Thermal deprotonation and condensation of melamine in the presence of indium(III)chloride.

Abstract

The thermal condensation of melamine into molecules melam, melem, and the one-dimensional polymer melon has already been reported. An interesting question arises about the impact of other compounds being present in this process of thermal conversion. The solid-state reaction of C3N6H6 with InCl3 leads to a novel compound featuring deprotonated melam units in a supramolecular assembly, based on the [C12N20H8]4- anion that is interconnected in the structure via N-In-N bonding. The reaction pathway of the formation of this compound is investigated by thermal analysis and the crystal structure of unique (NH4)[(InCl2)3(C12N20H8)]·⅔[InCl3(NH3)] is reported as well as its photoluminescence properties.