• Clulow, Rebecca
• Lightfoot, Philip

Abstract

There are relatively few sarcosine metal halide complexes. Of these, tris sarcosine calcium chloride (TSCC) ((C 3 NO 2 H 7 ) 3 CaCl 2 ) stands out as an unusual example of a molecular ferroelectric. Here we report the syntheses of eight new related sarcosine-metal halide complexes by slow evaporation. The newly reported materials can be categorised into four different structure types, viz . 3:1 complexes such as (C 3 NO 2 H 7 ) 3 CaBr 2 , hydrated 3:1 complexes such as (C 3 NO 2 H 7 ) 3 MnI 2 .2H 2 O, hydrated 2:1 complexes such as (C 3 NO 2 H 7 )2MgCl 2 .2H 2 O, and a 4:1 complex (C 3 NO 2 H 7 ) 4 CaI 2 .2H 2 O. The crystal structures of all examples have been determined at multiple temperatures but no evidence is found for any structural transitions to polar phases, either by single crystal X-ray diffraction or by differential scanning calorimetry. The specific compositional reasons behind the apparently unique ferroelectric behaviour of TSCC therefore remain to be ascertained.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• single crystal X-ray diffraction
• single crystal
• phase
• differential scanning calorimetry
• Calcium
• evaporation