Collective displacements in a molecular crystal polymorphic transformation

Zahn, Dirk and Anwar, Jamshed (2013) Collective displacements in a molecular crystal polymorphic transformation. RSC Advances, 31. pp. 12810-12815.

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Abstract

A long-standing question is whether concerted molecular displacements can occur during first-order phase transformations in molecular crystals. We have investigated the molecular level mechanism of the temperature-induced β → α phase transition in the molecular crystal DL-norleucine using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulations have employed the transition path sampling MD approach coupled with quenching to ascertain the mechanism of transformation close to the coexistence temperature, which is more representative of laboratory conditions than conventional brute-force MD that involves excessive superheating to induce the transformation. The study reveals that on length scales below 10 nm the β → α transformation in DL-norleucine crystals occurs by a concerted layer displacement mechanism. This finding is significant since collective structural transitions could be the mechanisms of choice in molecular crystals with hydrogen-bonded layers or chains, which are considered to be particularly amenable to control and have the potential to form the basis for molecular machines that transform heat into mechanical work.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
RSC Advances
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1500/1500
Subjects:
?? general chemical engineeringgeneral chemistrychemical engineering(all)chemistry(all) ??
ID Code:
64267
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
30 Apr 2013 09:23
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
16 Jul 2024 09:21