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The Structure of Ethylbenzene, Styrene and Phenylacetylene Determined by Total Neutron Scattering
Author(s) -
SzalaBilnik Joanna,
Falkowska Marta,
Bowron Daniel T.,
Hardacre Christopher,
Youngs Tristan G. A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201700393
Subject(s) - ethylbenzene , phenylacetylene , styrene , molecule , neutron diffraction , solvation , chemistry , neutron scattering , neutron , computational chemistry , crystallography , materials science , chemical physics , organic chemistry , crystal structure , benzene , nuclear physics , physics , catalysis , polymer , copolymer
Organic solvents such as phenylacetylene, styrene and ethylbenzene are widely used in industrial processes, especially in the production of rubber or thermoplastics. Despite their important applications detailed knowledge about their structure is limited. In this paper the structures of these three aromatic solvents were investigated using neutron diffraction. The results show that many of their structural characteristics are similar, although the structure of phenylacetylene is more ordered and has a smaller solvation sphere than either ethylbenzene or styrene. Two regions within the first coordination sphere, in which the surrounding molecules show different preferable orientations with respect to the central molecule, were found for each liquid. Additionally, the localisation of the aliphatic chains reveals that they tend to favour closer interactions with each other than to the aromatic rings of the adjacent molecules.