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Updated: Aug 14, 2025

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Crystal structures of polymerized lithium chloride and dimethyl sulfoxide in the form of {2LiCl·3DMSO} and
Nichole R Valdez1, David J Herman1, Martin B Nemer1
1Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank Blvd. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123, USA.
Abstract:
Two novel LiCl·DMSO polymer structures were created by combining dry LiCl salt with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), namely, catena-poly[[chlorido-lithium(I)]-μ-(dimethyl sulfoxide)-κ2 O:O-[chlorido-lithium(I)]-di-μ-(dimethyl sulfoxide)-κ4 O:O], [Li2Cl2(C2H6OS)3] , and catena-poly[lithium(I)-μ-chlorido-μ-(dimethyl sulfoxide)-κ2 O:O], [LiCl(C2H6OS)] . The initial synthesized phase had very small block-shaped crystals (<0.08 mm) with monoclinic symmetry and a 2 LiCl: 3 DMSO ratio. As the solution evaporated, a second phase formed with a plate-shaped crystal morphology. After about 20 minutes, large (>0.20 mm) octa-hedron-shaped crystals formed. The plate crystals and the octa-hedron crystals are the same tetra-gonal structure with a 1 LiCl: 1 DMSO ratio. These structures are reported and compared to other known LiCl·solvent compounds.
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