Thermal, optical and structural properties of disulfide and diselenide salts with weakly associated anions

•Imidazole disulfide and diselenide salts were synthesized using metal salts as oxidants.•First Bi(OTf)3 mediated oxidation of IPrS and IPrSe was reported.•First perchlorate salt of diselenide cation was isolated.•Strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding along with E⋯O weak interactions were observed for disulfide and diselenide salts.•Thermal and optical properties of disulfide and diselenide salts were studied.

The imidazole disulfide and diselenide dicataions were conveniently isolated for the first time by treating imidazole thione or imidazole selone with bismuth(III) triflate or copper perchlorate hexa-hydrate in very good yield. These new salts were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, solid state UV–vis, thermogravimetric analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. Interesting thermal properties and unusual bonding situations were observed for these dichalcogenide salts.

Graphical abstractSyntheses, structural and thermal properties of imidazole disulfide and diselenide dicataions with weakly associated anions were discussed.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide