SYNTHESIS AND STRUCTURE OF MIXED CHLORIDE TETRACHLOROALUMINATE SALTS

Two mixed chloride-tetrachloroaluminate salts of simple ammonium cations, [NH3(CH2Ph)]4Cl[AlCl4]3 1 and [NH3(C6H11)]2Cl[AlCl4] 2 have been prepared, crystallized from hydrocarbon solution, and 2 has been characterized via single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The salts melt at 109-112 and 107-108-degrees-C, respectively, however the structures are significant in the general context of interionic attractions in ambient-temperature chloroaluminate melts, particularly the basic variety, and are discussed in such a context. Salt 2 exhibits N-H...Cl- hydrogen bonding [d(N...Cl) range 3.134(10)-3.203(9) angstrom] leading to a cationic polymer. Comparisons are made between the structure of 2 and that of 1, which was communicated earlier.