Premium
The Elusive Structural Origin of Plastic Bending in Dimethyl Sulfone Crystals with Quasi‐isotropic Crystal Packing
Author(s) -
Thomas Sajesh P.,
Shi Ming W.,
Koutsantonis George A.,
Jayatilaka Dylan,
Edwards Alison J.,
Spackman Mark A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201701972
Subject(s) - intermolecular force , isotropy , materials science , bending , anisotropy , crystallography , crystal (programming language) , chemical physics , molecule , chemistry , composite material , physics , organic chemistry , optics , computer science , programming language
Bending in molecular crystals is typically associated with the anisotropy of intermolecular interactions. The intriguing observation is reported of plastic bending in dimethyl sulfone, which exhibits nearly isotropic crystal packing and interaction topology, defying the known structural models of bending crystals. The origin of the bending phenomenon has been explored in terms of intermolecular interaction energies, experimental X‐ray charge density analysis, and variable temperature neutron diffraction studies. H⋅⋅⋅H dihydrogen interactions and differences in electrostatic complementarity between molecular layers are found to facilitate the bending behavior.