X-ray Diffraction Studies of Solid Solutions of Pentaglycerine-Neopentylglycol

Abstract

AbstractAn array of molecules that is anisotropic in the extreme has been discovered in certain thermal-energy storage materials and is reported here: neopentylglycol (NPG) and NPG-rich solid solutions with pentaglycerine (PG) have a crystal structure, stable at room temperature, that consists of bimolecular chains of molecules that are all unidirectionally aligned throughout a crystal. There are hydrogen bonds between every molecule in one chain and its neighbors in that chain, but none between molecules of one chain and any molecules of the neighboring parallel chains. Thus there are strong intermolecular bonds along each chain and only weaker bonds between the chains. The structure has been determined by using modern single crystal techniques with 529 independent reflections from a crystal of NPG (C5H12O2). The structure is monoclinic with space group P21/c - C2h5. This anisotropic structure transforms to a cubic structure at higher temperatures.