Structures and Reactivities of Cocrystals Involving Diboronic Acids and Bipyridines: In Situ Linker Reaction and 1D‐to‐2D Dimensionality Change via Crystal‐to‐Crystal Photodimerization

Cocrystallizations of diboronic acids [1,3‐benzenediboronic acid (1,3‐bdba), 1,4‐benzenediboronic acid (1,4‐bdba) and 4,4’‐biphenyldiboronic acid (4,4’‐bphdba)] and bipyridines [1,2‐bis(4‐pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) and 1,2‐bis(4‐pyridyl)ethane (bpeta)] generated the hydrogen‐bonded 1 : 2 cocrystals [(1,4‐bdba)(bpe)(2)] (1), [(1,4‐bdba)(bpeta)(2)] (2), [(1,3‐bdba)(bpe)(2)(H(2)O)(2)] (3) and [(1,3‐bdba)(bpeta)(2)(H(2)O)] (4), wherein 1,3‐bdba involved hydrated assemblies. The linear extended 4,4’‐bphdba exhibited the formation of 1 : 1 cocrystals [(4,4'‐bphdba)(bpe)] (5) and [(4,4'‐bphdba‐me)(bpeta)] (6). For 6, a hemiester was generated by an in‐situ linker transformation. Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction revealed all structures to be sustained by B(O)−H⋅⋅⋅N, B(O)−H⋅⋅⋅O, O(w)−H⋅⋅⋅O, O(w)−H⋅⋅⋅N, C−H⋅⋅⋅O, C−H⋅⋅⋅N, π⋅⋅⋅π, and C−H⋅⋅⋅π interactions. The cocrystals comprise 1D, 2D, and 3D hydrogen‐bonded frameworks with components that display reactivities upon cocrystal formation and within the solids. In 1 and 3, the C=C bonds of the bpe molecules undergo a [2+2] photodimerization. UV radiation of each compound resulted in quantitative conversion of bpe into cyclobutane tpcb. The reactivity involving 1 occurred via 1D‐to‐2D single‐crystal‐to‐single‐crystal (SCSC) transformation. Our work supports the feasibility of the diboronic acids as formidable structural and reactivity building blocks for cocrystal construction.