The phases, ion crystal packing and thermal properties of the N-alkyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium and piperidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PYR1RTFSI and PIP1RTFSI (subscript R = 1 for methyl and 2 for ethyl), respectively) salts are compared using powder and single-crystal x-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The crystal structure of PIP12TFSI has been determined at 123 K. The salt crystallizes in the triclinic space group with Z = 8. Structural data are also reported for PYR11TFSI at 153 K and PIP12TFSI at 223 K. PIP11TFSI has identical ion crystal packing to the analogous pyrrolidinium salt PYR11TFSI. Since increasing the cation alkyl chain length to propyl or butyl (R = 3 or 4) reduces the melting point of the salts below room temperature, this study may provide valuable insight into why these pyrrolidinium and piperidinium salts form room-temperature ionic liquids.

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An ambidentate dicarboxylic acid bipyridine ligand, (4,5-diazafluoren-9-ylidene) malonic acid (dfm), was synthesized for coordination to Ru(II) and mesoporous nanocrystalline (anatase) TiO(2) thin films. The dfm ligand provides a conjugated pathway from the pyridyl rings to the carbonyl carbons of the carboxylic acid groups. X-ray crystal structures of [Ru(bpy)(2)(dfm)]Cl(2) and the corresponding diethyl ester compound, [Ru(bpy)(2)(defm)](PF(6))(2), were obtained. The compounds displayed intense metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) absorption bands in the visible region (ε > 11,000 M(-1) cm(-1) for [Ru(bpy)(2)(dfm)](PF(6))(2) in acetonitrile). Significant room temperature photoluminescence, PL, was absent in CH(3)CN but was observed at 77 K in a 4:1 EtOH:MeOH (v:v) glass. Cyclic voltammetry measurements revealed quasi-reversible Ru(III/II) electrochemistry. Ligand reductions were quasi-reversible for the diethyl ester compound [Ru(bpy)(2)(defm)](2+), but were irreversible for [Ru(bpy)(2)(dfm)](2+). Both compounds were anchored to TiO(2) thin films by overnight reactions in CH(3)CN to yield saturation surface coverages of 3 × 10(-8) mol/cm(2). Attenuated total reflection infrared measurements revealed that the [Ru(bpy)(2)(dfm)](2+) compound was present in the deprotonated carboxylate form when anchored to the TiO(2) surface. The MLCT excited states of both compounds injected electrons into TiO(2) with quantum yields of 0.70 in 0.1 M LiClO(4) CH(3)CN. Micro- to milli-second charge recombination yielded ground state products. In regenerative solar cells with 0.5 M LiI/0.05 M I(2) in CH(3)CN, the Ru(bpy)(2)(dfm)/TiO(2) displayed incident photon-to-current efficiencies of 0.7 at the absorption maximum. Under the same conditions, the diethylester compound was found to rapidly desorb from the TiO(2) surface.

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