Collective In-Plane Molecular Rotator Based on Dibromoiodomesitylene π-Stacks

Interest in artificial solid-state molecular rotator systems is growing as they enable systems to be designed for achieving specific physical functions. The phase transition behavior of four halomesitylene crystals indicated dynamic in-plane molecular rotator characteristics in dibromoiodomesitylene, tribromomesitylene, and dibromomesitylene crystals. Such molecular rotation in diiodomesitylene crystals was suppressed by effective I···I intermolecular interactions. The in-plane molecular rotation accompanied by a change in dipole moment resulted in dielectric phase transitions in polar dibromoiodomesitylene and dibromomesitylene crystals. No dielectric anomaly was observed for the in-plane molecular rotation of tribromomesitylene in the absence of this dipole moment change. Typical antiferroelectric-paraelectric phase transitions were observed in the dibromomesitylene crystal, whereas the dielectric anomaly of dibromoiodomesitylene crystals was associated with the collective in-plane molecular rotation of polar π-molecules in the π-stack. We found that the single-rope-like collective in-plane molecular rotator was dominated by intermolecular I···I interactions along the π-stacking column of polar dibromoiodomesitylene.