A new kind of host molecule 2,6-bis(α-phenylbenzyl)-1,5-naphthalenediol (1) was designed and synthesized. It exhibits strong inclusion property with various small organic molecules. The inclusion compounds were characterized by IR and ¹H NMR. The molar ratios of host and guest are 1•DMF (1∶1), 1•DMSO (1∶2), 1•pyridine (1∶1), 1•quinoline (1∶2) and 1•N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (1∶1), respectively. The structure of inclusion compound of 1 with DMF was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction with parameters of triclinic symmetry, P-1, a＝0.9085(9) nm, b＝0.9501(6) nm, c＝2.0995(6) nm, α＝99.59(3)°, β＝90.13(4)°, γ＝96.20(7)°, V＝1.776(2) nm³, D_c＝1.898 g•cm^－3. The result showed that CH…π weak hydrogen bonding plays a very important role in constructing the layer host framework and guest molecule packing pattern. The contacts between two inequivalent guests DMF with host are different, and one is through CH…π and CH…O weak hydrogen bonding to the host molecules in the same layer, while the other is through the same interaction in the neighbor layer.

Key words: inclusion compound, 2,6-bis(α-phenylbenzyl)-1,5-naphthalenediol, X-ray diffraction analysis, weak hydrogen bonding interaction