Nonpolar-to-Polar Phase Transition of a Chiral Ionic Plastic Crystal and Switch of the Rotation Symmetry

The
synthesis of a new ionic plastic crystal, tetra­ethyl­ammonium-d20 d-10-camphor­sulfonate, is reported.
The crystal has three solid phases, the structures of which were
determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD analysis
revealed a phase transition from nonpolar space group P21212 to polar space group P21 with increasing temperature. The dynamics of the d-10-camphor­sulfonate
anion and the tetra­ethyl­ammonium-d20 cation was investigated by variable-temperature 1H and 2H solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The anion showed
swing motion in high-temperature phases, which is in good agreement
with the disorder observed in XRD analysis. The cation showed uniaxial
rotation even in the low-temperature phase. The rotation axis of the
tetrahedral structure showed a transition from the two-fold axis to
the three-fold axis with the phase transition.