Tuning of Stepwise Neutral-Ionic Transitions by Acceptor Site Doping in Alternating Donor/Acceptor Chains

The stepwise neutral-ionic (N-I) phase transition found in the alternating donor/acceptor (DA) chain [Ru2(2,3,5,6-F4PhCO2)4(DMDCNQI)]·2(p-xylene) (0; 2,3,5,6-F4PhCO2(-) = 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzoate; DMDCNQI = 2,5-dimethyl-N,N'-dicyanoquinonediimine) was tuned by partly substituting the acceptor DMDCNQI with 2,5-dimethoxy-N,N'-dicyanoquinonediimine (DMeODCNQI), which displays a poorer electron affinity in an isostructural series. The site-doped series comprised [Ru2(2,3,5,6-F4PhCO2)4(DMDCNQI)1-x(DMeODCNQI)x]·2(p-xylene) for doping rates (x) = 0.05 (0.05-MeO), 0.10 (0.10-MeO), 0.15 (0.15-MeO), and 0.20 (0.20-MeO). The neutral chain [Ru2(2,3,5,6-F4PhCO2)4(DMeODCNQI)]·4(p-xylene) (1), which only contained DMeODCNQI, was also characterized. All site-doped compounds were isostructural to 0 except 1 despite their identical DA chain motif. Except at an x value of 0.20, they displayed a two-step N-I transition involving an intermediate phase. This transition occurred at high temperatures in 0 but shifted to lower temperatures in a parallel manner with increasing doping rate. Simultaneously, each transition broadened with increasing doping rate, leading to a convergence of two transitions at an x value approximating 0.2. Donor/acceptor-site-doping techniques present somewhat different impacts in terms of interchain Coulomb effects.