Coupling of displacive and order-disorder transformations in hydrogen-bonded ferroelectrics

Competition of interactions and a new high-temperature phase of selenourea

The aggregation of molecules is usually associated with a specific type of interaction, which can be altered by thermodynamic conditions. Under normal conditions, the crystal structure of selenourea, SeC(NH₂)₂, phase α is trigonal, space group P3₁, Z = 27. Its large number of independent molecules (Z_α' = 9) can be associated with the formation of an NH...N hydrogen bond substituting one of 36 independent NH...Se hydrogen bonds, which prevail among intermolecular interactions. Phase α approximates the trigonal structure with a threefold smaller unit cell (Z = 9), which in turn approximates another still threefold smaller unit cell (Z = 3). The temperature-induced transformations of selenourea have been characterized by calorimetry and by performing 21 single-crystal X-ray diffraction structural determinations as a function of temperature. At 381.0 K, phase α undergoes a first-order displacive transition to phase γ, with space group P3₁21 and Z reduced to 9, when the NH...N bond is broken and an NH...Se bond is formed in its place. Previously, an analogous competition was observed between NH...N and NH...O hydrogen bonds in high-pressure phase III of urea. The lattice vectors along the (001) plane in low- and high-temperature phases of selenourea are related by a similarity rule, while the lattice dimensions along direction c are not affected. This similarity rule also applies to the structures of phase γ and hypothetical phase δ (Z = 3). The thermally controlled transition between enantiomorphic phases of selenourea contrasts with its high-pressure transition at 0.21 GPa to a centrosymmetric phase β, where both the NH...Se and NH...N bonds are present. The compression and heating reduce the number of independent molecules from Z' = 9 in phase α, to Z' = 2 in phase β and to Z' = 1.5 in phase γ.

A closer look at superionic phase transition in (NH4)4H2(SeO4)3: impedance spectroscopy under pressure

The proton-conducting material (NH₄)₄H₂(SeO₄)₃ is examined to check whether its conductivity spectra are sensitive to subtle changes in the crystal structure and proton dynamics caused by external pressure. The AC conductivity was measured using impedance spectroscopy, in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 MHz, at temperatures 260 K < T < 400 K and pressures 0.1 MPa < p < 500 MPa. On the basis of the impedance spectra, carefully analyzed at different thermodynamic conditions, the p-T phase diagram of the crystal is constructed. It is found to be linear in the pressure range of the experiment, with the pressure coefficient value dT_s/dp = -0.023 K MPa^-1. The hydrostatic pressure effect on proton conductivity is also presented and discussed. Measurements of the electrical conductivity versus time were performed at a selected temperature T = 352.3 K and at pressures 0.1 MPa < p < 360 MPa. At fixed thermodynamic conditions (p = 302 MPa, T = 352.3 K), the sluggish solid-solid transformation from low conducting to superionic phase was induced. It is established that the kinetics of this transformation can be described by the Avrami model with an effective Avrami index value of about 4, which corresponds to the classical value associated with the homogeneous nucleation and three-dimensional growth of a new phase.

Uncommon first universality of conductivity in superprotonic (NH4)3H(SeO4)2 single crystals

The proton conducting crystal (NH₄)₃H(SeO₄)₂ is examined to check whether the first universality of conductivity spectra is sensitive to subtle changes in the crystal structure and proton dynamics caused by external pressure.

Bistable N–H⋯N hydrogen bonds for reversibly modulating the dynamic motion in an organic co-crystal

Bistable N–H⋯N hydrogen bonds enable the modulation of the dynamic molecular motion by slowing down the fast rotation in 1,2-diazabicyclo(2.2.2)octane bis(thiourea).

Pressure-induced phase transitions in L-alanine, revisited

The effect of pressure on L-alanine has been studied by X-ray powder diffraction (up to 12.3 GPa), single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and optical microscopy (up to ∼ 6 GPa). No structural phase transitions have been observed. At ∼ 2 GPa the cell parameters a and b become accidentally equal to each other, but without a change in space-group symmetry. Neither of two transitions reported by others (to a tetragonal phase at ∼ 2 GPa and to a monoclinic phase at ∼ 9 GPa) was observed. The changes in cell parameters were continuous up to the highest measured pressures and the cells remained orthorhombic. Some important changes in the intermolecular interactions occur, which also manifest themselves in the Raman spectra. Two new orthorhombic phases could be crystallized from a MeOH/EtOH/H2O pressure-transmitting mixture in the pressure range 0.8–4.7 GPa, but only if the sample was kept at these pressures for at least 1–2 d. The new phases converted back to L-alanine on decompression. Judging from the Raman spectra and cell parameters, the new phases are most probably not L-alanine but its solvates.

Effect of hydrostatic pressure on the γ-polymorph of glycine. 1. A polymorphic transition into a new δ-form

The results of a high-resolution powder diffraction study of the effect of high hydrostatic pressure up to 8 GPa on the pure γ-polymorph of glycine (P31) are discussed. A phase transition with a jumpwise change of cell volume and cell parameters was observed. The transition starts at about 2.73 GPa and is still not complete even at 7.85 GPa. The crystal structure of the previously unknown high-pressure polymorph of glycine (δ-polymorph) could be solved and refined in the space group Pn. In this structure, glycine zwitter-ions are linked via NH…O hydrogen bonds into layers, which form double-layered bands via additional NH…O hydrogen bonds. The structure of the individual layers in the high-pressure polymorph is similar to that in the previously known α- (P21/n) and β- (P21) forms, but the packing of the layers is essentially different. The pressure-induced polymorphic transformation in the γ-glycine can be compared with a change in the secondary structure of a peptide, when a helix is transformed into a sheet.

A comparative study of the anisotropy of lattice strain induced in the crystals of L-serine by cooling down to 100 K or by increasing pressure up to 4.4 GPa

The anisotropy of lattice strain in the crystals of L-serine (P212121, at ambient conditions a = 5.615(1) Å, b = 8.589(2) Å, c = 9.346(2) Å) on cooling down to 100 K and with increasing hydrostatic pressure up to 4.4 GPa was compared with each other and also with the results previously obtained for the polymorphs of glycine. On cooling, the structure expanded slightly along the crystallographic a-direction, compression along the crystallographic b- and c-directions (normal to the chains of the serine zwitter-ions) was very similar. With increasing pressure, the same structure compressed in all the crystallographic directions, linear strain along c-axis was the largest, linear strain along a-axis — the smallest, linear compression along the b-axis with increasing pressure was slightly larger than that along the a-axis. The different anisotropy of lattice strain of the same structure on cooling and under pressure could be correlated with different response of intermolecular hydrogen bonds to these two scalar actions.

Ferroelectric order of parallel bistable hydrogen bonds

A new NH.N hydrogen-bonded ferroelectric crystal of [C6H12N2H]+ReO - 4 (dabcoHReO4) exhibits exceptional dielectric properties that result from the unique structure where all the bistable NH...N hydrogen bonds are parallel and directed exactly in the same sense. Consequently, the main structural origin of the spontaneous polarization of the crystal is the identical orientation of the asymmetric NH+...N hydrogen bonds along [001]. This first observation of a ferroelectric with parallel arrangement of the NH+...N bonded aggregates, gives temperature-independent and the highest spontaneous polarization ever reported for an organic or water-soluble substance.