Synthesis, crystal structure and electrical properties of N,N-dimethylanilinium trichloridostannate (II): (C8H12N)SnCl3

A new (C8H12N)SnCl3 crystal of the general formula AMX(3) was grown by soft chemistry method. X-ray study shows that the crystal crystallized in a monoclinic system with the space group P2(1)/a. The structure was solved by Patterson method and refined to a final value of R = 0.0304 for 1157 independent observed reflections. The cohesion and the stability of the atomic arrangement result from the N-H...Cl hydrogen bonds between (C8H12N)(+) cations and isolated (SnCl3)(-) anions. At high temperature this compound exhibits a structural phase transition at 340 K. This transition has been characterized by differential scanning calorimetric and impedance spectroscopy. The impedance data were well fitted to an Rpf/CPE equivalent electrical circuit model. The close values of activation energies, obtained from the thermal behavior of the conductivity and the relaxation time confirm the presence of a hopping transport mechanism. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.