RESUMEN
The vibrational spectrum of liquid and solid nitroethane was measured as a function of pressure. Both Raman scattering and absorption IR spectroscopies were applied to samples of nitroethane, statically compressed at ambient temperature to a maximum pressure of 8.0 GPa and 16.9 GPa, respectively. A new amorphous to crystalline transition pressure was found to lie between 1.59-1.63 GPa. Davydov splitting of internal modes into two components suggests two molecules associated with the unit cell, which is consistent with the DFT predictions made in a previous study. For most bands below 1200 cm-1, pressure induced mode progression was consistent with DFT predictions. Conversely, observed mode shifts in the 2950-3100 cm-1 region were generally stiffer than their DFT counterparts. A discontinuity in mode evolution between 3.7-4.3 GPa was observed for a number of modes and shown to coincide with hydrogen bond rearrangement in this pressure region. Preferred orientation and crystallite strain might explain the increased scatter between the various pressure induced mode shift cycles. Time intervals on the order of â¼30 h may be required between spectra, in order to give the crystallites time to equilibrate their strain.
RESUMEN
Ambient temperature static high pressure compression of liquid nitroethane has been performed using the diamond anvil technique. The first transition to a crystalline powder around 4.2 GPa did not return reliable indexing solutions and could be the result of a mixture of phases. Subsequent cycling of the pressure apparatus with the same sample triggered a solid-solid transition around 4.9-4.3 GPa on the downstroke. Indexing returned a monoclinic structure with spacegroup P21 or P21/m which is consistent with the lowest enthalpy solution predicted from density functional theory (DFT) calculations performed in this study, namely, P21. Attempts to reproduce the first anomalous mixture of phases with other samples were not successful; rather, the numerically preferred monoclinic structure manifests itself after a liquid-solid transition around 4.3-3.6 GPa, a value consistent with the results of a previous study. The transition typically occurs more readily on the downstroke. Incomplete Debye rings resulting from preferred orientation complicates any Rietveld refinement, though the DFT simulations predict 2 molecules per unit cell. Unit cell volumes during the upstroke were within 3% of that predicted by DFT calculations. This departure increases to about 9% below that from DFT predictions during the downstroke suggesting the presence of residual stresses due to non-hydrostatic conditions. Finally, a sudden relief in d-spacing values around 3.7-4.3 GPa during the downstroke is thought to be due to the influence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding.