Abstract
I WISH to draw attention to the potential of odd alternant hydrocarbons (OAHs) in the design of organic metals and superconductors which gives reason to suppose that they may prove equal or even superior to present systems. There is now strong evidence for the existence of the metallic state in certain organic charge transfer salts, and a suggestion of low temperature superconducting fluctuations in the case of tetrathiofulvalene–tetracyanoquinodimethane (TTF–TCNQ); present interest is now focused on the stabilisation of these states at greater (critical) temperatures1. In contrast to the molecular crystals usually formed by conjugated organic molecules (which are held together by van der Waals' forces and characterised by a relatively weak intermolecular interaction), these salts crystallise as segregated one-dimensional stacks of cation and/or anion radicals in which the charge transfer process and thus the electronic mobility within a stack is greatly enhanced by the abnormally high overlap of the π-electron wave functions of nearest neighbours in the stack and by the ability of the constituent molecules to stabilise an ionic fluctuation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Garito, A. F., and Heeger, A. J., Accts chem. Res., 7, 232 (1974).
Dewar, M. J. S., The Molecular Orbital Theory of Organic Chemistry (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969).
Reid, D. H., Q. Rev. chem. Soc., 19, 274 (1965).
Epstein, A. J., Etemad, S., Garito, A. F., and Heeger, A. J., Solid State Commun., 9, 1803 (1971); Phys. Rev., B 5, 952 (1972).
Hubbard, J., Proc. R. Soc., A 276, 238 (1963); A 277, 237 (1963); A 281, 401 (1964).
Mott, N. F., Proc. phys. Soc., A 62, 419 (1949).
Austin, I. G., and Mott, N. F., Science, 168, 71 (1970).
Ferraris, J., Cowan, D. O., Walatka, V., and Perlstein, J. H., J. Am. chem. Soc., 95, 948 (1973).
Coleman, L. B., et al., Solid State Commun., 12, 1125 (1973).
Reid, D. H., Tetrahedron, 3, 339 (1958).
Clar, E., and Stewart, D. G., J. chem. Soc., 23 (1958).
Clar, E., Kemp, W., and Stewart, D. G., Tetrahedron, 3, 325 (1958).
Special issue of J. Polym. Sci. C., 29, (1970).
Shchegolev, I. F., Phys. Stat. Sol. (a), 12, 9 (1972).
Yagubskii, E. B., and Khidekel, M. L., Russ. Chem. Rev., 41, 1011 (1972).
Herbstein, F. H., in Perspectives in Structural Chemistry, IV (edit. by Dunitz, J. D., and Ibers, J. A.), 166 (Academic, New York, 1971).
Kobayashi, H., Ohashi, Y., Marumo, F., and Saito, Y., Acta Cryst., B 26, 459 (1970).
Hoekstra, A., Spoelder, T., and Vos, A., Acta Cryst., B 28, 14 (1972).
Sundaresan, T., and Wallwork, S. C., Acta Cryst., B 28, 491 (1972).
Phillips, T. E., Kistenmacher, T. J., Ferraris, J. P., and Cowan, D. O., Chem. Commun., 471 (1973).
Metzger, R. M., J. chem. Phys., 57, 1870, 1876, 2218 (1972).
Hiroma, S., Kuroda, H., and Akamatu, H., Bull. chem. Soc. Jap., 44, 9 (1971).
Bardeen, J., Solid State Commun., 13, 357 (1973).
Allender, D., Bray, J. W., and Bardeen, J., Phys. Rev. B, 9, 119 (1974).
Gutfreund, H., Horovitz, B., and Weger, M., J. Phys. C., 7, 383 (1974); Phys. Rev. B, 9, 1246 (1974); Solid State Commun., 15, 849 (1974).
Bari, R. A., Phys. Rev. B., 7, 2128 (1973).
Coll, C. F., and Beni, G., Solid State Commun., 15, 997 (1974).
Lee, P. A., Rice, T. M., and Anderson, P. W., Phys. Rev. Lett., 31, 462 (1973).
Fukuyama, H., Rice, T. M., and Varma, C. M., Phys. Rev. Lett., 33, 305 (1974).
Bright, A. A., Garito, A. F., and Heeger, A. J., Solid State Commun., 13, 943 (1973).
Morawitz, H., Bull. Am. phys. Soc., 18, 1577 (1973).
Grant, P. M., Greene, R. L., Wrighton, G. C., and Castro, G., Phys. Rev. Lett., 31, 1578 (1973).
Perov, P. I., and Fischer, J. E., Phys. Rev. Lett., 33, 521 (1974).
Peierls, R. E., Quantum Theory of Solids (Oxford University Press, London, 1955).
Frohlich, H., Proc. R. Soc., A 223, 296 (1954).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
HADDON, R. Design of organic metals and superconductors. Nature 256, 394–396 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/256394a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/256394a0
This article is cited by
-
Synthesis and Characterization of a Persistent Benzoanthracenyl Radical Derivative
Chemical Research in Chinese Universities (2023)
-
Mixed valence salts based on carbon-centered neutral radical crystals
Communications Chemistry (2018)
-
Reticular synthesis of porous molecular 1D nanotubes and 3D networks
Nature Chemistry (2017)
-
Carrier generation and electronic properties of a single-component pure organic metal
Nature Materials (2017)
-
Synthesis successes
Nature Chemistry (2017)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.