Synthesis,structural characterization and luminescence properties of 1‐carboxymethyl‐3‐ethylimidazolium chloride

A microcrystalline carboxyl‐functionalized imidazolium chloride, namely 1‐carboxymethyl‐3‐ethylimidazolium chloride, C₇H₁₁N₂O₂⁺·Cl⁻, has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (ATR‐FT‐IR), single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, thermal analysis (TGA/DSC), and photoluminescence spectroscopy. In the crystal structure, cations and anions are linked by C—H…Cl and C—H…O hydrogen bonds to create a helix along the 010] direction. Adjacent helical chains are further interconnected through O—H…Cl and C—H…O hydrogen bonds to form a (10) layer. Finally, neighboring layers are joined together via C—H…Cl contacts to generate a three‐dimensional supramolecular architecture. Thermal analyses reveal that the compound melts at 449.7 K and is stable up to 560.0 K under a dynamic air atmosphere. Photoluminescence measurements show that the compound exhibits a blue fluorescence and a green phosphorescence associated with spin‐allowed (¹π←¹π*) and spin‐forbidden (¹π←³π*) transitions, respectively. The average luminescence lifetime was determined to be 1.40 ns for the short‐lived (¹π←¹π*) transition and 105 ms for the long‐lived (¹π←³π*) transition.