Temperature-Dependent Structural Properties, Phase Transition Behavior, and Dynamic Properties of a Benzene Derivative in the Solid State

Abstract

We report the solid-state structural properties and phase transition behavior of 1,4-dibromo-2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzene, demonstrating that this material undergoes an order–disorder phase transition below ambient temperature (at ca. 154 K on cooling and ca. 160 K on heating). In both the high-temperature and low-temperature phases, the crystal structure is based on π-stacking of the molecules. In the crystal structure of the high-temperature phase, the bromine occupancy in each substituent site is ca. 1/3 and the methyl group occupancy in each substituent site is ca. 2/3, consistent with statistical orientational disorder of the molecule between six distinct orientations. Natural-abundance solid-state 2H NMR spectroscopy confirms that, at ambient temperature, this disorder is dynamic via rapid molecular reorientation about an axis perpendicular to the aromatic ring. In the low-temperature phase, the bromine and methyl substituents occupy preferred sites within the crystal structure, with the distribution of site occupancies becoming progressively more ordered on decreasing temperature.