Organometallic Ionic Plastic Crystals Incorporating Cationic Half-Sandwich Complexes

Ionic plastic crystals (IPCs), characterized by nearly spherical molecular ions, exhibit remarkable solid-state characteristics including high ionic conductivity. However, most IPCs are organic onium salts. Incorporating organometallic half-sandwich complexes into IPCs is challenging owing to their low-symmetry structures. This paper introduces a novel series of IPCs composed of salts derived from half-sandwich organometallic complexes. We synthesized five salts of [Ru(Cp)(tmeda)(CO)]X (tmeda = N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-1,2-ethanediamine, X = anion) with different anions and examined their phase behavior, crystal structures, and molecular motion in the solid-state. Salts featuring the CPFSA (= 1,1,2,2,3,3-hexafluoropropane-1,3-disulfonimide), B(CN)₄^-, and FSA^- (= (FSO₂)₂N^-) anions underwent phase transitions to an IPC phase with a CsCl-type structure in the temperature range of 327-364 K. Employing smaller anions led to an increase in the transition temperature. In each salt, the coordination number, representing the number of anions surrounding one cation, remained eight in IPC and low-temperature phases. However, salts containing smaller anions (CF₃BF₃^- and PF₆^-) displayed a rotator phase rather than the IPC phase. In these cases, the coordination numbers were six at low temperatures.