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The Melting Point Alternation in the Short‐Chain n ‐Alkanes: Single‐Crystal X‐Ray Analyses of Propane at 30 K and of n ‐Butane to n ‐Nonane at 90 K
Author(s) -
Boese Roland,
Weiss HansChristoph,
Bläser Dieter
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3773(19990401)38:7<988::aid-anie988>3.0.co;2-0
Subject(s) - propane , alternation (linguistics) , nonane , ton , intermolecular force , butane , melting point , chemistry , crystallography , crystal (programming language) , thermodynamics , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , physics , molecule , catalysis , philosophy , linguistics , fishery , computer science , biology , programming language
A less dense packing is observed in the odd‐numbered n ‐alkanes compared to the even‐numbered members, which consequently lowers melting temperatures. The reason for this is that the even‐numbered n ‐alkanes have optimal intermolecular interactions at both ends (see the picture on the left), while the odd‐numbered ones possess these only at one end—at the other end the intermolecular distances are longer (right)