Synthesis and Structure Prediction of a Novel, Potentially Electroactive Organic Material

RM 215

Recently, organic materials have been reported to display dielectric properties. Dielectric materials are important because they have the potential to serve as components for electronic devices, such as computer processors and solid-state memory. The development and use of organic dielectric materials would eliminate the need to use rare earth metals, and reduce relative toxicity in the production of dielectrics. Croconic Acid (CA) and Diisopropylamine (DIPA) were selected for this study, because they are components of known organic ferroelectric crystals. A computational and experimental investigation was conducted on whether the two species would exhibit hydrogen bonding interactions and form a co-crystalline salt, and whether the new compound would display interesting dielectric behavior. Using tools from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center, including ConQuest v1.6-8 and Mercury v3.6-8, and Wavefunction’s Spartan ’14 software, an initial complex was constructed of DIPA cation interacting with CA dianion. Concurrently, two molar equivalents of Diisopropylamine were added to one molar equivalent of Croconic Acid using a pestle and mortar, and a reaction was immediately observed. The NMR spectrum of the resulting powder was compared to the predicted NMR spectrum that was produced by Spartan ‘14, and the two graphs aligned well. The resulting structure was named bis-(diisopropylammonium) croconate (BDC). The crystals were then analyzed under x-ray diffraction and compared to the theoretical unit cell. The computational data produced matched with the experimental data gathered, and confirmed the creation of BDC. The next step in this study will be to test the single crystals for dielectric behaviors.