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Updated: May 25, 2026
From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
The growth of ionic crystals based on the halogenation of copper cluster anions
Zhixun Luo1, Jordan C Smith, W Hunter Woodward
1Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
Abstract:
We investigated the halogenation reactivity of copper cluster anions produced via a magnetron-sputter source after introduction into a fast-flow tube reaction apparatus simultaneously with chlorine gas. Interesting cluster products corresponding to [Cu(n)Cl(n+1)](-) (n = 1-6) were observed with notable stability, and the mass distribution of these clusters exhibits an exponential decay with increasing values of n. Reaction kinetics analysis is provided on the gas-phase reactivity of copper cluster anions with chlorine. First-principle calculations suggest a series of cubic-like structures for these species similar to the structure of alkali halide clusters due to their similar electronic configurations. These structures act as a starting point in the formation of ionic crystals.
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