Crystal Growth, Structural Motifs, and Optical Properties of Molecular and Polymeric Cerium Halide Materials

Abstract

A series of seven compounds, Ce2Br6(CH3OH)8 (1), Ce2Br6(C2H5OH)8 (2), CeCl3(CH3OH)2(H2O) (3a), CeCl3(CH3OH)2(H2O) (3b), CeBr3((CH3)2CHOH)2(H2O) (4), Ce4Br10((CH3)2CHOH)10 (H2O)2(OH)2 (5), and CeCl3((CH3)2CHOH)2(H2O) (6) were synthesized via slow evaporation of CeBr3 or CeCl3 dissolved in an alcohol. This series structurally consists of two dimers, four polymeric chains, and one tetramer. The presence of water and/or hydroxide ions during synthesis profoundly affects the product structure by enhancing the formation of bridging halides, thus leading to polymeric rather than molecular structures. Each of the polymeric chains (3a, 3b, 4, 6) formed in response to the presence of water, to which cerium will preferentially coordinate over an alcohol. The tetrameric compound 5 formed in response to the presence of both water and hydroxide ions. These seven compounds, six of which are new compounds, demonstrate the diversity of these seemingly simple materials, which are described herein and were analyzed for their general trends in structure preferences and bond distances. The luminescent properties of compounds 1 and 2 are discussed and contrasted with that of CeBr3.

New Family of Cerium Halide Based Materials: CeX3·ROH Compounds Containing Planes, Chains, and Tetradecanuclear Rings

“…The syntheses of other scintillators with compositions related to that of CeCl 3 (CH 3 OH) 4 , such as CeBr 3 (CH 3 OH) 4 , followed rapidly, thereby expanding the family of scintillation materials into the bromide derivatives. , These efficient molecular adduct scintillators represent only the first examples of an entire family of cerium-containing inorganic–organic hybrid materials that can be synthesized and grown as single-crystals with promising scintillation capabilities.…”