Crystal structure, PIXEL calculations of inter­molecular inter­action energies and solid-state characterization of the herbicide isoxaflutole

In the isoxaflutole mol­ecule {systematic name: (5-cyclo­propyl-1,2-oxazol-4-yl)[2-(methyl­sulfon­yl)-4-(tri­fluoro­meth­yl)phen­yl]methanone; C(15)H(12)F(3)NO(4)S}, the 1,2-oxazole and methanone fragments form an almost coplanar unit, whereas the methanone and phenyl mean planes are inclined by an angle of more than 60°. This conformation differs fundamentally from all other known examples of the 1,2-oxazol-4-yl(phen­yl)methanone fragment and is ascribed to the presence of the bulky methyl­sulfonyl para substituent at the phenyl ring. PIXEL calculations reveal that the largest contributions to the stabilization of the crystal persist within a columnar arrangement of mol­ecules along the twofold screw axis and in inter­actions between adjacent columns related by an inversion operation. Both these intra-column and inter-column motifs are dominated by the dispersion energy term but also display additional significant stabilization effects as a result of three short inter­molecular C—H⋯O contacts involving the methane­sulfonyl-O atoms.