Structural Investigation of Tetra-n-Butylammonium Perchlorate

The crystal structure of tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate has been successfully elucidated using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The compound crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1 with unit cell of dimensions a = 14.2706(7) angstrom, b = 20.6904(9) angstrom, c = 39.970(2) angstrom, alpha = 89.316(4)degrees, beta = 88.638(4)degrees, and gamma = 87.801(4)degrees. Although complicated by partial disorder, the structure has remarkable features where columns of some of the perchlorate anions running down [100] lie within what can be regarded as nanotubular entities formed by some of the tetrabutylammonium cations, while the remaining tetrabutylammonium cations lie in parallel columns surrounded by the remaining perchlorate anions, one entity being essentially the inverse of the other. Interactions within the structure have been characterized using Hirshfeld surface analysis and comparisons drawn with other unsolvated salts of the cation.