A previously unknown cyclic alkanolamine and molecular ranking using the pair distribution function

A new six-membered cyclic alkanolamine with chemical formula C(6)H(15)N(3)O(3) was synthesized by the reaction of glycolaldehyde with gaseous ammonia. The molecular structure, characterized by a hexagonal ring of alternating carbon and nitro­gen atoms with three hy­droxy­methyl groups attached to the carbon atoms, could not be unambiguously determined by elemental analysis and (1)H/(13)C/(15)N NMR. The molecular structure and conformation were further determined using a combination of vibrational spectroscopy (IR and Raman) and real-space pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. The crystal structure was determined ab initio from laboratory X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) with orthorhombic space group Ama2 (No. 40) and unit-cell parameters a = 12.1054 (2) Å, b = 13.5537 (2) Å and c = 5.20741 (8) Å. Consistent structure models could be obtained by symmetry-independent PDF and PDF-Rietveld co-refinements. Independent local structure refinements indicate that the most likely deviations from the average structure consist of small tilting and translational distortions of hydrogen-bonded molecular stacks. Thermal analysis (TG/DTA) and temperature-dependent XRPD measurements were also performed to determine the thermal behavior.