The reactivity of solid rubrene with potassium: competition between intercalation and molecular decomposition

Zhang, Jiliang, Whitehead, George, Manning, Troy, Stewart, David, Hiley, Craig, Pitcher, Michael and Rosseinsky, Matthew (2017) The reactivity of solid rubrene with potassium: competition between intercalation and molecular decomposition. [Data Collection]

Description

We present the synthesis and characterization of the K+ intercalated rubrene (C42H28) phase, K2Rubrene (K2R) and identify the co-existence of amorphous and crystalline materials in samples where the crystalline component is phase pure. We suggest this is characteristic of many intercalated alkali metal-polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) systems, in-cluding those for which superconductivity has been claimed. The systematic investigation of K-rubrene solid state re-actions using both K and KH sources reveals complex competition between K intercalation and the decomposition of rubrene, producing three K-intercalated compounds, namely, K2R, K(RR*), and KxRʹ (where R* and Rʹ are rubrene de-composition derivatives C42H26 and C30H20, respectively). K2R is obtained as the major phase over a wide composition range and is accompanied by the formation of amorphous by-products from the decomposition of rubrene. K(RR*) is synthesized as a single phase and KxRʹ is obtained only as a secondary phase to the majority K2R phase. The crystal structure of K2R was determined using high resolution powder X-ray diffraction, revealing that the structural rear-rangement from pristine rubrene creates two large voids per rubrene within the molecular layers in which K+ is incor-porated. K+ cations accommodated within the large voids interact strongly with the neighbouring rubrene via η6, η3 and η2 binding modes to the tetracene cores and the phenyl groups. This contrasts with other intercalated PAHs where only a single void per PAH is created and the intercalated K+ weakly interact with the host. The decomposition prod-ucts of rubrene are also examined using solution NMR, highlighting the role of the breaking of C-CPhenyl bonds. For the crystalline decomposition derivative products K(RR*) and KxRʹ, a lack of definitive structural information with regards to R* and Rʹ prevents the crystal structures being determined. The study illustrates the complexity in accessing solvent-free alkali metal salts of reduced PAH of the type claimed to afford superconductivity.

Keywords: intercalation, crystal structure, rubrene, decomposition
Divisions: Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Physical Sciences
Depositing User: Troy Manning
Date Deposited: 29 Nov 2018 11:45
Last Modified: 29 Nov 2018 11:45
DOI: 10.17638/datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/309
URI: https://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/309

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