scholarly journals A phenomenological model for structural phase transitions in incommensurate alkane/urea inclusion compounds

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 180058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Couzi ◽  
François Guillaume ◽  
Kenneth D. M. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Structural Properties ◽  
Phenomenological Model ◽  
Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Structural Phase ◽  
Temperature Phase ◽  
Coupling Mechanism ◽  
Repeat Distance ◽  
Guest Molecules ◽  
Urea Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Urea Inclusion

n -Alkane/urea inclusion compounds are crystalline materials in which n -alkane ‘guest’ molecules are located within parallel one-dimensional ‘host’ tunnels formed by a helical hydrogen-bonded arrangement of urea molecules. The periodic repeat distance of the guest molecules along the host tunnels is incommensurate with the periodic repeat distance of the host substructure. The structural properties of the high-temperature phase of these materials (phase I), which exist at ambient temperature, are described by a (3 + 1)-dimensional superspace. Recent publications have suggested that, in the prototypical incommensurate composite systems, n -nonadecane/urea and n -hexadecane/urea, two low-temperature phases II and ‘III’ exist and that one or both of these phases are described by a (3 + 2)-dimensional superspace. We present a phenomenological model based on symmetry considerations and developed in the frame of a pseudo-spin–phonon coupling mechanism, which accounts for the mechanisms responsible for the I ↔ II ↔ ‘III’ phase sequence. With reference to published experimental data, we demonstrate that, in all phases of these incommensurate materials, the structural properties are described by (3 + 1)-dimensional superspace groups. Around the temperature of the II ↔ ‘III’ transition, the macroscopic properties of the material are not actually associated with a phase transition, but instead represent a ‘crossover’ between two regimes involving different couplings between relevant order parameters.

Structural properties of the guest species in diacyl peroxide/urea inclusion compounds: an X-ray diffraction investigation

1990 ◽  
Vol 431 (1882) ◽  
pp. 245-269 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Single Crystal ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Inclusion Compounds ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Channel Axis ◽  
Guest Molecules ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Urea Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Diacyl Peroxide ◽  
Urea Inclusion

In this paper we report single crystal X-ray diffraction studies of urea inclusion compounds containing diacyl peroxides (dioctanoyl peroxide (OP), diundecanoyl peroxide (UP), lauroyl peroxide (LP)) as the guest component. In these inclusion compounds, the host (urea) molecules crystallize in a hexagonal structure that contains linear, parallel, non-intersecting channels (tunnels). The guest (diacyl peroxide) molecules are closely packed inside these channels with a periodic repeat distance that is incommensurate with the period of the host structure along the channel axis. Furthermore, there is pronounced inhomogeneity within the guest structure: within each single crystal, there are regions in which the guest molecules are three-dimensionally ordered, and other regions in which they are only one-dimensionally ordered (along the channel axis). Although it has not proven possible to ‘determine’ the guest structures in the conventional sense, substantial information concerning their average periodicities and their orientational relationships with respect to the host has been deduced from single crystal X-ray diffraction photographs recorded at room temperature. For OP/urea, UP/urea and LP/urea, the guest structure in the three-dimensionally ordered regions is monoclinic, and six types of domain of this monoclinic structure can be identified within each single crystal. The relative packing of diacyl peroxide molecules is the same in each domain, and the different domains are related by 60° rotation about the channel axis. For each of these inclusion compounds, the offset between the ‘heights’ of the guest molecules in adjacent channels is the same ( ca . 4.6 Å (4.6 x 10 -10 m)) within experimental error, suggesting that the relative interchannel packing of the guest molecules is controlled by a property of the diacyl peroxide group. In addition to revealing these novel structural properties, the work discussed in this paper has more general relevance concerning the measurement and interpretation of single crystal X-ray diffraction patterns that are based on more than one three-dimensionally periodic reciprocal lattice. Seven separate reciprocal lattices are required to rationalize the complete X-ray diffraction pattern from each diacyl peroxide/urea crystal studied here.

Definitive Structural Characterization of the Conventional Low-Temperature Host Structure in Urea Inclusion Compounds

1997 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 822-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Yeo ◽  
K. D. M. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Temperature Phase ◽  
Temperature Structure ◽  
Tunnel Structure ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Guest Molecules ◽  
Urea Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Urea Inclusion ◽  
Low Temperature Phase

Structural properties of the 1,10-dibromodecane/urea and 1,12-dibromododecane/urea inclusion compounds have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction for both the high- and low-temperature phases. In the high-temperature phase both inclusion compounds have the conventional hexagonal urea tunnel structure, with substantial orientational disorder of the guest molecules. In the low-temperature phase the urea tunnel structure distorts to an orthorhombic structure, based on a distorted form of the orthohexaganol cell of the high-temperature structure and with the loss of the C centre. Within this tunnel structure there is evidence that the guest molecules have a narrow distribution of orientations (with respect to rotation about the tunnel axis) and the preferred orientation of the guest molecules correlates well with the observed distortion of the host tunnel. This represents the first accurate and reliable report of the conventional low-temperature structure of urea inclusion compounds. Previous powder X-ray diffraction studies have confirmed that the host structure in the low-temperature phase of 1,10-dibromodecane/urea is the same as that in the low-temperature phase of the alkane/urea inclusion compounds.

Longitudinal positional ordering of n-alkane molecules in urea inclusion compounds

2000 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Weber ◽  
Hans Boysen ◽  
Friedrich Frey
Keyword(s):  
Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Structural Phase ◽  
Host Lattice ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Dimensional System ◽  
Guest Molecules ◽  
Urea Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Urea Inclusion

The profiles of diffuse layers, which are present in diffraction patterns of urea inclusion compounds, are interpreted quantitatively by a longitudinal positional paracrystalline order of the alkane guest molecules within the channels of the urea-host framework structure, in agreement with the expected behaviour of a one-dimensional system. With decreasing temperature there is a gradual transition into long-range order behaviour. This ordering process remains unaffected by structural changes related to lateral correlations within and between both host and guest substructures, including a structural phase transformation. The differing behaviour of a mixed system (pentadecane/hexadecane) with average period almost commensurate with the urea host lattice is explained by the superposition of main and satellite layers. The distribution of both molecules within each tunnel is random.

Temperature-dependent structural properties of a solid urea inclusion compound containing chiral guest molecules: 2-bromotetradecane/urea

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (12) ◽  
pp. 2105-2118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lily Yeo ◽  
Kenneth DM Harris
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Inclusion Compound ◽  
High Temperature Phase ◽  
Temperature Phase ◽  
Tunnel Structure ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Guest Molecules ◽  
Urea Inclusion Compound ◽  
Urea Inclusion

Periodic structural properties of the 2-bromotetradecane/urea inclusion compound have been investigated as a function of temperature. Differential scanning calorimetry between 298 and 98 K identified three well-defined regimes, denoted the high-, intermediate-, and low-temperature phases. The structural properties of each phase (at 293, 207, and 142 K, respectively) have been investigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction. In the high-temperature phase, the inclusion compound has the hexagonal urea tunnel structure (P6122) characteristic of the conventional urea inclusion compounds, with substantial orientational disorder of the guest molecules. In the intermediate-temperature phase, the symmetry is lowered to orthorhombic (C2221), although the host structure remains close to the hexagonal tunnel structure of the high-temperature phase and there is no clear evidence for increased orientational ordering of the guest molecules. In the low-temperature phase, the urea tunnel structure is monoclinic (P21), and is based on a 2 × 2 × 1 supercell of the hexagonal cell of the high-temperature structure. There are four independent types of tunnel, three of which are strongly distorted from hexagonal geometry. Within these distorted tunnels, there is a comparatively narrow distribution of guest molecule orientations, which correlate well with the observed distortions of the tunnels. The 2-bromotetradecane/urea inclusion compound highlights several issues of wider relevance concerning the structural properties of solid inclusion compounds.Key words: urea inclusion compounds, X-ray diffraction, phase transitions, chiral recognition, incommensurate solid, 2-bromotetradecane/urea.

scholarly journals The changeable nature of urea inclusion compounds.

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1706-C1706
Author(s):  
Rachael Lee ◽  
Michael Probert ◽  
Jonathon Steed
Keyword(s):  
Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Guest Molecule ◽  
Domain Switching ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Honeycomb Structure ◽  
Guest Molecules ◽  
Urea Inclusion Compounds ◽  
Β Phase ◽  
Diffraction Patterns ◽  
Urea Inclusion

Urea inclusion compounds (UICs), the β-phase of urea, have been known only since 1949 and have revealed various structural and behavioural characteristics of interest, largely influenced by the type of guest molecule present in the crystal. These structures have a hexagonally symmetrical honeycomb structure of a hydrogen-bonded urea network encapsulating the guest molecules, a defining motif of these clathrates. The simplest of this class contains an alkane guest (C7-C20), creating an incommensurate relationship between host and guest and a significantly disordered crystal structure with respect to the guest. As a result, diffuse scattering is typical in the diffraction patterns of UICs. As the guest molecules are altered, so too is the behaviour of the host network. With certain dihaloalkanes for example, the guest may coil into an atypical conformation in order to present a commensurate relationship with the host. This increase in guest order creates a distortion of the host network away from hexagonal symmetry, creating an internal stress which causes domain switching within the system. A number of different effects such as this can be seen on changing the guest molecule, ferroelasticity being an example for certain diketone guests. In this work we are exploring examples of UICs which, due to unusual interaction between the host and guest, display atypical structural features, symmetry or behaviour. These crystal structures are under investigation at a range of temperatures and pressures, by both X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques in order to fully understand the nature and bonding of UICs.

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