Syntheses and characterization of two polymorphs of Cu(TCNQ) have been carried out and the results correlated to films of the materials. Reactions of CuI with TCNQ or [Cu(CH3CN)4][BF4] with TCNQ- lead to blue-purple needles of Cu(TCNQ) phase I (1). A slurry of this kinetic product in CH3CN yields a second crystalline phase of Cu(TCNQ), phase II (2), which exhibits a platelet morphology. Powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy data revealed that both phases are present in films of Cu(TCNQ) formed by oxidation of Cu foil by TCNQ in CH3CN. X-ray photoelectron spectra of the two phases are indistinguishable from each other and are indicative of the presence of Cu(I). Single-crystal X-ray studies were undertaken on very small crystals of the two samples, the results of which reveal that subtle geometrical changes for the nitrile arrangements around the four-coordinate Cu(I) centers lead to major changes in the architectural framework of the polymers. Phase I was indexed in the tetragonal crystal system, but due to disorder and twinning, the crystal diffracted to only ∼40° in 2θ. The data were solved and refined in the monoclinic Pn space group. The polymeric motif consists of Cu atoms surrounded by four nitrile lone pairs of independent TCNQ- molecules arranged in a distorted tetrahedral geometry. A quadruply twinned crystal of Cu(TCNQ) phase II was indexed in the monoclinic system and resolved by deconvolution methods. The Cu(I) ions in phase II occupy the tetrahedral positions of a Cooperite structure (PtS), and the TCNQ- radicals occupy the square planar sites. In both phases there are two interpenetrating lattices present. In phase I the TCNQ- units are involved in close π-stacking interactions at ∼3.24 Å whereas in phase II the closest approach of the rings is ∼6.8 Å. In qualitative agreement with these observations are the magnetic properties; 1 is essentially diamagnetic and 2 displays Curie−Weiss behavior down to very low temperatures. The charge-transport properties of the samples revealed that, while they are both semiconductors, 1 is a good semiconductor with a room-temperature conductivity of 0.25 S cm-1 and a band gap of 0.137 eV whereas 2 is a very poor semiconductor with σ(rt) = 1.3 × 10-5 S cm-1 and a band gap of 0.332 eV. Cu(TCNQ) film devices have been found to switch between two states that exhibit very similar conducting properties.

To examine inhibitor binding to an iron site resembling that of the metalloenzyme nitrile hydratase (NHase), a coordinatively unsaturated, five-coordinate FeIII thiolate complex was synthesized, and its reactivity examined. Ferricinium hexafluorophosphate induced oxidation of gem-dimethyl-protected [FeIIS2 Me2N3(Pr,Pr)] affords the chiral, five-coordinate complex [FeIIIS2 Me2N3(Pr,Pr)]+ (2) in reasonable yields. The magnetic properties and EPR of 2 are consistent with an S = 1/2 ground state. This unusual spin state, in conjunction with the low coordination number, of 2 result in unusually short Fe−S bonds (2.15(2) Å). Ligand constraints distort the S−Fe−N angles in 2 and create an open (132.3(1)°) reactive site. Azide binds to this site to afford a model for the azide-inhibited form of NHase [FeIIIS2 Me2N3(Pr,Pr)(N3)] (3). In MeOH azide binds reversibly, whereas in MeCN it binds irreversibly. This demonstrates that the secondary coordination sphere (i.e., the solvent, or possibly a protein binding pocket) can have a dramatic influence on the substrate binding properties of a metal complex. A variable-temperature equilibrium study in MeOH afforded thermodynamic parameters (ΔH = −5.2 ± 0.9 kcal/mol and ΔS = −12.4 ± 0.4 eu) for the binding of this inhibitor. The electronic spectrum of 3 displays an intense band at 708 (1600) nm similar to that (710 (∼1200) nm) of the pH = 7.3 form of NHase, and other six-coordinate cis-dithiolate ligated FeIII complexes synthesized by our group. EPR parameters for 3 (g = 2.23, 2.16, 1.99) are nearly identical to those of the azide-inhibited form of NHase (g = 2.23, 2.14, 1.99), suggesting that (1) the iron site of our model closely resembles that of the enzyme, and (2) azide binds directly to the metal ion in NHase. Reactivity is oxidation-state dependent, and the reduced analogue of 2, [FeIIS2N3(Pr,Pr)] (4), reversibly binds CO, but not azide, whereas oxidized 2 binds azide, but not CO.

The homologous series M(TCNQ)2 (M = Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), and Ni(II); TCNQ = 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane) prepared from reactions of [M(CH3CN)6][BF4]2 and [n-Bu4N][BF4] in CH3CN has been carefully analyzed from the perspective of synthetic issues and physical characterization, including complete magnetic analyses by the tools of dc and ac magnetometry. The preparative method was optimized to definitively establish the reproducibility of the chemistry as judged by infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, powder X-ray crystallography, and elemental analysis. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies results are also in accord with the conclusion that these materials are pure, isostructural phases. The dc magnetic measurements reveal a spontaneous magnetization for the four materials at low temperatures with a weak field coercivity of 20, 750, 190, and 270 G at 2 K for Mn(TCNQ)2, Fe(TCNQ)2, Co(TCNQ)2, and Ni(TCNQ)2, respectively. At low temperatures, ac susceptibility measurements confirm the presence of a magnetic phase at 44, 28, 7, and 24 K for Mn(TCNQ)2, Fe(TCNQ)2, Co(TCNQ)2, and Ni(TCNQ)2, respectively, but do not support the description of this system as a typical magnet. In the absence of the ac magnetic data, the behavior is indicative of ferri- or ferromagnetic ordering (depending on the metal), but in fact a complete investigation of their physical properties revealed their true nature to be a glassy magnet. The glassiness, which is a high magnetic viscosity known to originate from randomness and frustration, is revealed by a frequency dependence of the ac susceptibility data and is further supported by a lack of a lambda peak in the heat capacity data. These results clearly demonstrate that molecule-based materials with a presumed magnetic ordering may not always be exhibiting truly cooperative behavior.

Acoustic wave devices with shear horizontal displacements, such as quartz crystal microbalances (QCM) and shear horizontally polarised surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) devices provide sensitive probes of changes at solid-solid and solid-liquid interfaces.Increasingly the surfaces of acoustic wave devices are being chemically or physically modified to alter surface adhesion or coated with one or more layers to amplify their response to any change of mass or material properties. In this work, we describe a model that provides a unified view of the modification in the shear motion in acoustic wave systems by multiple finite thickness loadings of viscoelastic fluids. This model encompasses QCM and other classes of acoustic wave devices based on a shear motion of the substrate surface and is also valid whether the coating film has a liquid or solid character. As a specific example, the transition of a coating from liquid to solid is modelled using a single relaxation time Maxwell model. The correspondence between parameters from this physical model and parameters from alternative acoustic impedance models is given explicitly. The characteristic changes in QCM frequency and attenuation as a function of thickness are illustrated for a single layer device as the coating is varied from liquid-like to that of an amorphous solid. Results for a double layer structure are given explicitly and the extension of the physical model to multiple layers is described. An advantage of this physical approach to modelling the response of acoustic wave devices to multilayer films is that it provides a basis for considering how interfacial slip boundary conditions might be incorporated into the acoustic impedance used within circuit models of acoustic wave devices. Explicit results are derived for interfacial slip occurring at the substrate-layer 1 interface using a single real slip parameter, s, which has inverse dimensions of impedance. In terms of acoustic impedance, such interfacial slip acts as a single-loop negative feedback. It is suggested that these results can also be viewed as arising from a double-layer model with an infinitesimally thin slip layer which gives rise to a modified acoustic load of the second layer. Finally, the difficulties with defining appropriate slip boundary conditions between any two successive layers in a multilayer device are outlined from a physical point of view.