Thermally induced rearrangement of hydrogen-bonded helices in solid 4-isopropylphenol as studied by calorimetric, proton NMR, dielectric and near IR spectroscopic methods Original Research Article

Calorimetric, dielectric and Fourier transform near infrared (IR) spectroscopic methods were used to study molecular dynamics and structural transition in solid 4-isopropylphenol (4IP) above room temperature. Pulse proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements were performed in the 100–340 K temperature range. A phase transition was found at 331.5 K, 1.5 K below the melting point. Energetically inequivalent methyl groups reorientations were observed in differently prepared samples and this suggested that a high-temperature polymorph occurs below the transition point as a metastable phase. Dielectric relaxation measurements showed an electric conductivity similar in value to that in water. This was detected as a pronounced contribution to the imaginary part of dielectric permittivity at temperatures higher than 310 K. Near IR spectra revealed that hydrogen bondings are stronger in the high-temperature phase than in the room-temperature-stable one. We propose that thermally induced molecular rearrangements enable proton transfer in hydrogen bonds (HBs) and this stimulates protonic conduction.