Charge-transfer
salts of biferrocene derivatives bearing branched-alkyl
substituents [1′-R1-1‴-R2-1,1″-biferrocene;
R1 = R2 = isopropylthio (D1), isopropyl
(D2), isobutyl (D3), neopentyl (D4), and R1 = isobutyl and R2 = neopentyl (D5)] were prepared and crystallographically characterized.
F2- and F4-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) produced
salts with D/A ratios of 1:3 ([D1][F2TCNQ]3, [D2][F2TCNQ]3), 1:2 ([D2][F4TCNQ]2, [D3][F4TCNQ]2), 2:3 ([D1]2[F4TCNQ]3), and
1:1 ([D2][F4TCNQ], [D4][F2TCNQ], [D4][F4TCNQ], [D5][F4TCNQ]). [Ni(mnt)2] produced
a 1:1 salt [D3][Ni(mnt)2]. Although
the biferrocenium salts reported to date contain only monocations,
the cation valence in these salts decreases as the donor/acceptor
ratio increases; the 1:3 and 1:2 salts contain biferrocenium dications,
the 1:1 salts contain mixed-valence biferrocenium monocations, and
the intermediate 2:3 salt contains both the dication and monocation.
The packing structures of the salts differ significantly despite being
composed of donors and acceptors with very similar shapes. The salts
are paramagnetic, and their magnetic susceptibility values are consistent
with the valence state of the cations. The cations in the 1:1 salts
exhibited valence-trapped states because of the local electrostatic
interactions between the cation and anion.