Crystal structures and phase transitions of imidazolium hypodiphosphates.

Two imidazolium hypodiphosphates, (C3H5N2)(H3P2O6) (I) and (C3H5N2)2(H2P2O6) (II), have been synthesized and structurally characterized. In both metal-free organic-inorganic hybrids (I) and (II), the hypodiphosphate mono- and dianions, (H3P2O6)- and (H2P2O6)2-, form hydrogen-bonded frameworks of different types, to which the organic cations are linked via N-H...O and C-H...O hydrogen bonds. The purity of the compounds was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction. Differential scanning calorimetry of compound (I) revealed two structural phase transitions: continuous at 311.8 K [cooling/heating; from high-temperature phase (HTP) to room-temperature phase (RTP)] and a discontinuous one at 287.9/289.2 K [RTP → low-temperature phase (LTP)]. Compound (I) is characterized in a wide temperature range by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction methods. Crystal structures of high- and low-temperature phases are determined, which show orthorhombic (HTP, Pnna, No. 52) → monoclinic (LTP, P21/n11, No. 14, a-axis doubled) structural change on cooling with an intermediate incommensurately modulated phase (RTP). Dynamic properties of polycrystalline (I) were studied by means of dielectric spectroscopy. The dielectric behaviour is explained by the motion of imidazolium cations.