Crystal Structure and Non-Hydrostatic Stress-Induced Phase Transition of Urotropine Under High Pressure.

High-pressure behavior of hexamethylenetetramine (urotropine) was studied in situ using angle-dispersive single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared absorption (FTIR) spectroscopy. Experiments were conducted in various pressure-transmitting media to study the effect of deviatoric stress on phase transformations. Up to 4 GPa significant damping of molecular librations and atomic thermal motion was observed. A first-order phase transition to a tetragonal structure was observed with an onset at approximately 12.5 GPa and characterized by sluggish kinetics and considerable hysteresis upon decompression. However, it occurs only in non-hydrostatic conditions, induced by deviatoric or uniaxial stress in the sample. This behavior finds analogies in similar cubic crystals built of highly symmetric cage-like molecules and may be considered a common feature of such systems. DFT computations were performed to model urotropine equation of state and pressure dependence of vibrational modes. The first successful Hirshfeld atom refinements carried out for high-pressure diffraction data are reported. The refinements yielded more realistic C-H bond lengths than the independent atom model even though the high-pressure diffraction data are incomplete.

Solid-State Dynamics and High-Pressure Studies of a Supramolecular Spiral Gear.

The structures and solid-state dynamics of the supramolecular salts of the general formula [(12-crown-4)2 ⋅DABCOH2 ](X)2 (where DABCO=1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, X=BF4 , ClO4 ) have been investigated as a function of temperature (from 100 to 360 K) and pressure (up to 3.4 GPa), through the combination of variable-temperature and variable-pressure XRD techniques and variable-temperature solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The two salts are isomorphous and crystallize in the enantiomeric space groups P32 21 and P31 21 . All building blocks composing the supramolecular complex display dynamic processes at ambient temperature and pressure. It has been demonstrated that the motion of the crown ethers is maintained on lowering the temperature (down to 100 K) or on increasing the pressure (up to 1.5 GPa) thanks to the correlation between neighboring molecules, which mesh and rotate in a concerted manner similar to spiral gears. Above 1.55 GPa, a collapse-type transition to a lower-symmetry ordered structure, not attainable at a temperature of 100 K, takes place, proving, thus, that the pressure acts as the means to couple and decouple the gears. The relationship between temperature and pressure effects on molecular motion in the solid state has also been discussed.

Conformation-aggregation interplay in the simplest aliphatic ethers probed under high pressure.

The structures of the simplest symmetric primary ethers [(CnH2n+1)2O, n = 1-3] determined under high pressure revealed their conformational preferences and intermolecular interactions. In three new polymorphs of diethyl ether (C2H5)2O, high pressure promotes intermolecular CH...O contacts and enforces a conversion from the trans-trans conformer present in the α, ß and γ phases to the trans-gauche conformer, which is higher in energy by 6.4 kJ mol-1, in the δ phase. Two new polymorphs of dimethyl ether (CH3)2O display analogous transformations of the CH...O bonds. The crystal structure of di-n-propyl ether (C3H7)2O, determined for the first time, is remarkably stable over the whole pressure range investigated from 1.70 up to 5.30 GPa.

The curious case of proton migration under pressure in the malonic acid and 4,4'-bipyridine cocrystal.

In the search for new active pharmaceutical ingredients, the precise control of the chemistry of cocrystals becomes essential. One crucial step within this chemistry is proton migration between cocrystal coformers to form a salt, usually anticipated by the empirical ΔpKa rule. Due to the effective role it plays in modifying intermolecular distances and interactions, pressure adds a new dimension to the ΔpKa rule. Still, this variable has been scarcely applied to induce proton-transfer reactions within these systems. In our study, high-pressure X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy experiments, supported by DFT calculations, reveal modifications to the protonation states of the 4,4'-bipyridine (BIPY) and malonic acid (MA) cocrystal (BIPYMA) that allow the conversion of the cocrystal phase into ionic salt polymorphs. On compression, neutral BIPYMA and monoprotonated (BIPYH+MA-) species coexist up to 3.1 GPa, where a phase transition to a structure of P21/c symmetry occurs, induced by a double proton-transfer reaction forming BIPYH22+MA2-. The low-pressure C2/c phase is recovered at 2.4 GPa on decompression, leading to a 0.7 GPa hysteresis pressure range. This is one of a few studies on proton transfer in multicomponent crystals that shows how susceptible the interconversion between differently charged species is to even slight pressure changes, and how the proton transfer can be a triggering factor leading to changes in the crystal symmetry. These new data, coupled with information from previous reports on proton-transfer reactions between coformers, extend the applicability of the ΔpKa rule incorporating the pressure required to induce salt formation.

Stochastic hydration of a high-nitro-gen-content molecular compound recrystallized under pressure.

Partial hydration of organic compounds can be achieved by high-pressure crystallization. This has been demonstrated for the high-nitro-gen-content compound 6-chloro-1,2,3,4-tetrazolo[1,5-b]pyridazine (C4H2N5Cl), which becomes partly hydrated by isochoric crystallizations below 0.15 GPa. This hydrate, C4H2N5Cl·xH2O, is isostructural with the ambient-pressure phase α of C4H2N5Cl, but the crystal volume is somewhat larger than that of the anhydrate. At 0.20 GPa, the α-C4H2N5Cl anhydrate phase transforms abruptly into a new higher-symmetry phase, α'; the transformation is clearly visible due to a strong contraction of the crystals. The hydrate α-C4H2N5Cl·xH2O can also be isothermally compressed up to 0.30 GPa before transforming to the α'-C4H2N5Cl·xH2O phase. The isochoric recrystallization of C4H2N5Cl above 0.18 GPa yields a new anhydrous phase ß, which, on releasing pressure, transforms back to the α phase below 0.15 GPa. The structural transition from the α to the ß phase is destructive for the single crystal and involves a large volume drop and significant elongation of all the shortest intermolecular distances which are the CH⋯N and CH⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, as well as the N⋯N contacts. The α-to-α' phase transition increases the crystal symmetry in the subgroup relation; however, there are no structural nor symmetry relations between phases α and ß.

Crystal design by CH...N and N...N interactions: high-pressure structures of high-nitrogen-content azido-triazolopyridazines compounds.

High-nitrogen-content compounds 6-azido-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-b]pyridazine (C5H3N7) and its 3-methyl derivative (C6H5N7) have been in situ crystallized in a diamond-anvil cell and their structures determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Under ambient and high-pressure conditions the crystallizations yield the same phases: the C5H3N7 anhydrate and C6H5N7 hydrated clathrate. In both the structures there are clearly distinguished regions of short CH...N and N...N intermolecular contacts, the latter involving exclusively the azide groups. High pressure initially increases the contents of water in the channel pores of the clathrate.

Pressure-Promoted Solvation of Resorcinol.

Under ambient conditions resorcinol (Res), C6H4(OH)2, favorably crystallizes from methanol and aqueous solutions as the anhydrate, in the form of polymorph α at room temperature. Anhydrous polymorph ß can be obtained above 360 K. However, above 0.80 GPa the monohydrate Res·H2O is formed from the aqueous solution. The monohydrate is less stable than the duotritohydrate 3Res·2H2O, which nucleates later. The latter forms a tight passivation layer on the surface of monohydrate crystals and protects them from dissolution. Between 0.20 and 1.0 GPa the duotritohydrate is more favored than the previously reported Res polymorphs α and ß. From a methanol solution above 0.40 GPa the methanol monosolvate Res·CH3OH precipitates. In Res·H2O resorcinol molecules assume the syn-syn conformation, and in 3Res·2H2O independent syn-syn and anti-anti conformers are present. The anti-anti molecule is orientationally disordered, despite the fact that usually the disorder requires extra space, while the high pressure suppresses the volume. In all three new solvates, the solvent molecules mediate the H bonding between the hydroxyl groups. The formation of solvates can be rationalized by the low potential energy of syn-syn conformers as well as the volume gain of the solvates in comparison to the summed volumes of the pure resorcinol crystal and stoichiometric amounts of the solvent. The strong preference of the analogous orcinol (5-methylresorcinol) for the monohydrate formation under normal conditions is unchanged under high pressure.

Supramolecular reaction between pressure-frozen acetonitrile phases alpha and beta.

The balance of weak CH...N bonds involving the H 3C- and -CN groups has been related to the structural rearrangement between centrosymmetric and polar acetonitrile structures. The linear highly polar molecules arrange antiparallel in phase alpha below a freezing temperature of 225 K/0.1 MPa and above a freezing pressure of 0.38(5) GPa/296 K and in a polar mode in phase beta below 206 K/0.1 MPa and at pressures higher than 0.63(5) GPa/296 K. The alpha <--> beta phase transition has been considered as a supramolecular reaction between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional hydrogen-bonding networks, the latter favoring the polar association. Acetonitrile has been in situ pressure-frozen, and its structure has been determined at room temperature by single-crystal X-ray diffraction at 0.57(5), 0.63(5), and 1.50(5)GPa. The crystallization pressure at 296 K has been determined as 0.38(5) GPa both by ruby fluorescence in a diamond anvil-cell and by the compressibility measurement in a cylinder-and-piston device. Acetonitrile mixed with methanol trimerized at 1.60 GPa and 473 K yielding 4-amino-2,6-dimethylpyrimidine: it was in situ crystallized, and the structure of a single crystal, recovered at ambient conditions, was determined.

Cyanide vs. azide "magnetic arm wrestling": MnII-NbIV and MnII-MoIV magnetic coordination polymers with mixed bridging.

Two magnetic coordination polymers with mixed cyanide-azide bridging based on octacyanoniobate(iv) and octacyanomolybdate(iv) are reported: {(NH4)[(H2O)MnII-(µ-N3)-MnII(H2O)][MIV(CN)8]·3H2O}n Mn2MN3 (M = Nb or Mo). Cyanide ligands form the 3-D framework of Mn2MN3, while azide ligands connect two MnII centres together. Both CN- and N3- are known in magnetochemistry for their marked magnetic coupling abilities which in the case of Mn2NbN3 lead to competitive antiferromagnetic interactions within the NbIV-CN-MnII and MnII-N3-MnII structural motifs. This competition results in a peculiar magnetic behaviour consistent with a non-collinear magnetic structure.

Competing hydrogen-bonding patterns and phase transitions of 1,2-diaminoethane at varied temperature and pressure.

1,2-diaminoethane has been in-situ pressure- and temperature-frozen; apart from two known low-temperature phases, Ialpha and II, three new phases, Ibeta, Igamma and III, have been observed and their structures determined by X-ray diffraction. The measurements at 0.1 MPa were carried out at 274, 243 and 224 K, and 296 K measurements were made at 0.15 GPa (phase Ialpha), at 0.3 and 1.1 GPa (phase Ibeta), at 1.5 GPa (phase Igamma), and at 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 GPa (phase III). All these phases are monoclinic, space group P2(1)/c, but the unit-cell dimension of phases Ialpha and III are very different at 296 K: aIalpha=5.078 (5), bIalpha=7.204 (8), cIalpha=5.528 (20) A, betaIalpha=115.2 (2) degrees at 0.15 GPa, and aIII=5.10 (3), bIII=5.212 (2), cIII=7.262 (12) A, betaIII=111.6 (4) degrees at 0.2 GPa, respectively; in both phases Z=2. An ambient-pressure low-temperature phase II has been observed below 189 K. Discontinuities in the unit-cell dimensions and in the N...N distance mark the isostructural transition between phases Ialpha and Ibeta at 0.2 GPa, which can be attributed to a damping process of the NH2 group rotations. In phase Igamma the unit-cell parameter a doubles and Z increases to 4. The molecule has inversion symmetry in all the structures determined. 1,2-Diaminoethane can be considered as a simple structural ice analogue, but with NH...N hydrogen bonds and with the H-atom donors (four in one molecule) in excess over H-atom acceptors (two per molecule). Thus, the transformations of 1,2-diaminoethane phases involving the conformational dynamics affect the hydrogen-bonding geometry and molecular association in the crystal. The 1,2-diaminoethane:1,2-dihydroxyethane mixture has been separated by pressure-freezing, and a solid 1,2-diaminoethane crystal in liquid 1,2-dihyroxyethane has been obtained.