Reversible Transition between Discrete and 1D Infinite Architectures: A Temperature-Responsive Cu(I) Complex with a Flexible Disilane-Bridged Bis(pyridine) Ligand.

A thermoresponsive structural change based on a disilane-bridged bis(pyridine) ligand and CuI is reported. Single-crystal X-ray analysis revealed that there are two polymorphs in the Cu(I) complex: octanuclear copper(I) complex at 20 °C and 1D staircase copper(I) polymer complex at -173 °C. The formation of these polymorphs is due to the flexibility of the ligand. Cu-I bond formation is observed upon cooling the sample from -10 °C to -170 °C. The temperature-induced phase transition progression was clarified by DSC, VT-PXRD, and VT-photoluminescence measurements and indicated a reversible temperature-controlled crystal-to-crystal phase transition. Observation on a VT-stage using a high-speed camera showed crystal cracking during single-crystal to single-crystal transitions between these polymorphic forms.

Intensity distribution profile of double Bragg scattering in the small-angle region from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite.

It is observed that radial streak patterns of double Bragg scattering appear in the small-angle X-ray scattering from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). The intensity profile of double Bragg scattering from an HOPG sample is calculated theoretically. Assuming that the c axes of the graphite crystallites in the HOPG sample are distributed around an orientation vector and their distribution function has a Gaussian form, it is found that the intensity profile of double Bragg scattering is expressed by a double Gaussian function of the scattering angle and the azimuthal angle of the streak. The calculated intensity profile is compared with the experimental one. The method developed in this article can be used to estimate the orientational distribution of crystallites in uniaxial polycrystalline materials.

Study of liquid metals as a basis for nanoscience.

There are two ways to proceed with nanoscience: so-called top-down and bottom-up methods. Usually, the former methods are thought of as in the province of physicists and the latter in that of chemists. However, this is not entirely true because the physics of disordered matter, especially liquid metals, is well-developed bottom-up science and it has indeed provided nanoscience with basic ideas and theoretical tools such as ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Here we wish to present experimental studies on such phenomena that originate from quantum mechanical properties and subsequently lead to classical non-equilibrium processes: among these are slow dynamics due to metal-nonmetal transitions in liquids, and wetting and dewetting transitions of liquid semiconductors. Since all these phenomena are related to a spatiotemporal range far wider than that treated by the present ab initio MD simulations, it is desirable that new progress in theoretical physics be stimulated, resulting in further developments in nanoscience.