Structures and photochemistry of inclusion compounds of 9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethenoanthracene-11,12-bis(diphenylmethanol)

Crystal structures have been determined for inclusion complexes of the host molecule 9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethenoanthracene-11,12-bis(diphenylmethanol), with acetone, ethanol and toluene as guest solvent molecules. The host molecule exhibits an intramolecular O–H ... O hydrogen bond in each of the complexes, with intermolecular hydrogen bonds to the acetone and ethanol guests. Different photoproducts are obtained from solution and solid-state photolyses; the solid-state reaction involves a relatively small amount of molecular rearrangement, for which a mechanism is proposed.