Unusual high-temperature host–guest inclusion compound-based ferroelectrics with nonlinear optical switching and large spontaneous polarization behaviours

Host–guest inclusion compound-based ferroelectrics [Hcta-(18-crown-6)]+[BF4]− (1) and [Hcta-(18-crown-6)]+[ClO4]− (2) with a high Curie temperature (Tc = 403/394 K) and large spontaneous polarization (Ps = 5.7/4.7 μC cm−2) are reported.

Synthesis, crystal structures, dielectric and magnetic properties of manganese sulfonyldibenzoates

Six coordination polymers based on Mn(ii) and V-shaped ligand were successfully isolated and their dielectric as well as magnetic behaviours were investigated. The paper also discusses the growth of solids in terms of supramolecular aggregation.

Enhancing switchable dielectric property for crystalline supramolecular rotor compounds by adding polar components

Two new compounds were obtained by assembling the [(2-methoxy-5-nitro-anilinium)(18-crown-6)]+ cation with non-polar PF6- and polar SO3CF3- anions, respectively. Benefiting from its polar anion, the SO3CF3- compound reveals a more significant dielectric switching behaviour during phase transition, demonstrating an effective strategy to enhance the dielectric property by adding polar components.

Above Room Temperature Reversible Phase Transition Induces Distinct Dielectric and Nonlinear Optical Switching Response Behavior in Crown-Ether-Based Supramolecular Clathrate

Stimuli-responsive materials with coexisting nonlinear optical (NLO) and dielectric properties are technologically important, which enable simultaneous conversion of optoelectronic properties between different states under external stimuli. By rationally screening guest cations (C6H5NF2)+ in the crown-ether inclusion system, we synthesized a crown-ether supramolecular compound [(C6H5NF2)(18-crown-6)][PF6] (1). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that 1 undergoes a reversible phase transition above room temperatures (305 K/292 K), with a thermal hysteresis of 13 K. Temperature-dependent dielectric and NLO measurements show that the compound exhibits two distinct switching response behaviors. Structural analysis indicates that the order–disorder change of the host molecule 18-crown-6 and the guest organic cation during the phase transition induces the dielectric and NLO switching behavior of the compound.

Temperature-induced order-disorder structural phase transitions of two-dimensional isostructural hexamethylenetetramine co-crystals

Hexamethylenetetramine-benzoic acid (1/2) (HBA) and hexamethylenetetramine-4-methylbenzoic acid (1/2) (HMBA) co-crystals undergo order-disorder structural phase transition from a low-temperature monoclinic crystal structure to a high-temperature orthorhombic crystal structure at the transition temperatures of 257.5 (5) K (Pn ↔ Fmm2) and 265.5 (5) K (P2₁/n ↔ Cmcm), respectively, using variable-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The observed phase transitions were confirmed to be reversible first-order transitions as indicated by the sharp endothermic and exothermic peaks in the differential scanning calorimetry measurement. The three-molecule aggregate of HBA and HMBA consists of a hexamethylenetetramine molecule and two benzoic acid or two 4-methylbenzoic acid molecules, respectively. The acid molecules are ordered at the low-temperature phase and are equally disordered over two positions, which are related by a mirror symmetry, at the high-temperature phase. The two-dimensional supramolecular constructs common to both co-crystals are formed by three-molecule aggregates via weak intermolecular C-H...O and C-H...π interactions into molecular trilayers parallel to the ac plane with small XPac dissimilarity indices and parameters. The PIXEL interaction energies of all corresponding molecular contacts were calculated and the results are comparable between HBA and HMBA co-crystals, resulting in similar lattice energies and transition temperatures despite their two-dimensional isostructural relationship. The observed phase transitions of these two energetically similar co-crystals are triggered by similar mechanisms, i.e. the molecular rotator ordering and structural order-disorder transformation, which induced non-merohedral twinning with similar twin matrices in the low-temperature crystal form of both co-crystals.

Dielectric and nonlinear optical dual switching in an organic–inorganic hybrid relaxor [(CH3)3PCH2OH][Cd(SCN)3]

[(CH₃)₃PCH₂OH][Cd(SCN)₃] exhibits dielectric and nonlinear optical dual switching with reversible phase transition as an organic–inorganic hybrid relaxor.