Bis(3-methyl-1-propyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium) bis-(4,6-disulfanidyl-4,6-disulfanyl-idene-1,2,3,5,4,6-tetra-thia-diphosphinane-κ(3) S (2),S (4),S (6))nickel.

The title salt, (PMIM)(2)[Ni(P(2)S(8))(2)] (PMIM = 3-methyl-1-propyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium, C(7)H(13)N(2) (+)), consists of a nickel-thio-phosphate anion charge-balanced by a pair of crystallographically independent PMIM cations. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n. The structure exhibits the known [Ni(P(2)S(8))(2)](2-) anion with two unique imidazolium cations in the asymmetric unit. Whereas one PMIM cation is well ordered, the other is disordered over two orientations with refined occupancies of 0.798†(2) and 0.202†(2). The salt was prepared directly from the elements in the ionic liquid [PMIM]CF(3)SO(3). Whereas one of the PMIM cations is well behaved (it does not exhibit disorder even in the propyl side chain), the other is found in two overlapping positions. The refined occupancies for the two orientations are roughly 80:20. Here, too, there appears to be little disorder in the propyl arm.