Anion‐Dependent Tendency of Di‐Long‐Chain Quaternary Ammonium Salts to Form Ion Quadruples and Higher Aggregates in Benzene

The self‐aggregation tendency of N(CH₃)₂(C₁₈H₃₇)₂]X 1 X; X^?=BF₄^?, PF₆^?, OTf^?, NTf₂^?, BPh₄^?, BTol₄^?, BAr^F?, and B(C₆F₅)₄^?] salts to form ion quadruples (IQs) and higher aggregates (HAggs) in D₆]benzene is investigated by means of diffusion NMR spectroscopy. The experimental results indicate that salts containing small anions ( 1 BF₄, 1 PF₆, and 1 OTf) are present in solution as IQs even at the lowest investigated concentration of C=5×10^?5 M and show a limited tendency to further self‐aggregate, reaching a maximum average aggregation number (N=V_H/${V_{\rm{H}}^{{\rm{0IP}}} }$ , where V_H=measured hydrodynamic volume and ${V_{\rm{H}}^{{\rm{0IP}}} }$ =hydrodynamic volume of the ion pair) of about 6–8 (C=0.050–0.100 M ). Salts with larger counterions 1 BPh₄, 1 BTol₄, 1 BAr^F, and 1 B(C₆F₅)₄] form instead ion pairs at low concentration but steadily self‐aggregate (especially the non‐fluorinated ones) on increasing their concentration up to N values exceeding 50 (C=0.030–0.050 M ). 1 NTf₂ behaves in an intermediate fashion. The self‐aggregation tendency of salts is quantified by formulating the dependence of V_H on C by means of the equations of indefinitive aggregation models. The following rankings for the formation of IQs and HAggs are obtained: IQs: 1 BF₄≈ 1 PF₆≈ 1 OTf> 1 NTf₂> 1 B(C₆F₅)₄≥ 1 BPh₄≥ 1 BTol₄≥ 1 BAr^F; HAggs: 1 BTol₄> 1 BPh₄> 1 NTf₂> 1 B(C₆F₅)₄> 1 BAr^F> 1 BF₄≈ 1 PF₆≈ 1 OTf. Interionic NOE NMR studies and DFT calculations were conducted in order to determine the relative anion–cation orientation in the self‐aggregating units.