Toward the Understanding of Modulation in Molecular Materials: Barluenga’s Reagent and its Analogues.

Investigations into the phase transition
of Barluenga’s
reagent revealed a transient incommensurately modulated phase; the
structures are presented herein. To understand the origin of the modulated
phase and the chemistry that can affect it, analogues of Barluenga’s
reagent were synthesized and studied. In this context, the halogen
and anion can easily be exchanged. Studying different analogues led
to the development of the Ratchet Model to describe the behavior in
the solid state leading to a better understanding of modulation in
this class of molecular crystal structure.