Phase transitions in solid cycloheptene

The phase transition behaviour of cycloheptene has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, proton spin-lattice relaxation, and vibrational spectroscopy (infrared and Raman). Two solid–solid phase transitions were observed, at 154 and 210 K, with transition enthalpies and entropies of 5.28 and 0.71 kJ mol−1 and 34.3 and 3.4 JK−1, respectively. Cycloheptene melted at 217 K with an entropy of melting of 4.5 JK−1 mol−1. The bands in the vibrational spectra of the two high temperature phases were broad and featureless, characteristic of highly disordered phases. The presence of other conformers, in addition to the chair form, was indicated from bands in the spectra. The ring inversion mode was highly phase dependent and exhibited soft mode type behaviour prior to the transition from the low temperature phase. The low frequency Raman spectra (external modes) of these phases indicated that the molecules are undergoing isotropic reorientation. In the low temperature phase, the vibrational bands were narrow; the splitting of the fundamentals into two components and the presence of nine external modes are consistent with unit cell symmetry of either C2 or Cs with two molecules per primitive unit cell. A glassy state can be produced from the intermediate phase and the vibrational spectra were very similar to those of the high temperature phases, indicating that static disorder was present. The barriers to reorientation, as obtained from proton spin-lattice relaxation measurements, are 9.0 kJ mol−1 in both the high temperature phases, and 15.4 kJ mol−1 in the low temperature, ordered phase. Keywords: cycloheptene, phase transition, differential scanning calorimetry, NMR, vibrational spectroscopy.