Crystal structure determination of Efavirenz

Needle-shaped single crystals of the title compound, C14H9ClF3NO2, were obtained from a co-crystallization experiment of Efavirenz with maleic acid in a (1:1) ratio, using methanol as solvent. Crystal structure determination at room temperature revealed a significant anisotropy of the lattice expansion compared to the previously reported low-temperature structure. In both low- and room temperature structures the cyclopropylethynyl fragment in one of the asymmetric unit molecules is disordered. While at low-temperature only one C atom exhibits positional disorder, at room temperature the disorder is present for two C atoms of the cyclopropane ring.