Order and disorder in acenaphthylene

Abstract

Acenaphthylene, C 12 H 8 , occurs in space group Pbam (or Pba2) at room temperatures (23 °C) with a = 7.705 (5), b = 7.865 (5), c = 14.071 (5) Å and Z = 4, and is disordered. At about 130 K it undergoes a reversible transition to space group P2 1 nm with a = 7.588 (13), b = 7.549 (10), c = 27.822 (2) Å and Z = 8 (85 K) with an ordered structure. A general study of the system has revealed that the structure of both forms consists of layers of closely packed molecules stacked in the c direction. The room temperature structure has a two-layer repeat and the low temperature form a four-layer repeat. Observation of diffuse X-ray diffraction effects at temperatures close to the transition indicates that an intermediate form having a six-layer repeat is formed. A preliminary structure determination of the low-temperature form reveals that the four layers though having a similar packing scheme differ in the orientation of the constituent molecules relative to c . It is proposed that the almost circular shape of the molecules allows each layer to change its identity under thermal agitation by a rotation of its constituent molecules in their own planes. The transition can be explained in terms of changes of the correlations between neighbouring layers. A simple model based on short-range order parameters is described, which explains the occurrence of the six-layer intermediate and the observed sequence of diffuse diffraction phenomena. The nature of the structure of the disordered room temperature form, which is predicted by this model, is confirmed as far as possible with the data available which are limited because of the dearth of high-angle diffraction maxima.