Open AccessA further X-ray investigation of long chain compounds (n-hydrocarbon)
Author(s) -
Alex F. Müller
Publication year - 1928
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1928.0158
Subject(s) - stearic acid , hydrocarbon , rod , crystal (programming language) , molecule , long chain , chain (unit) , crystallography , chemistry , crystal structure , single crystal , materials science , polymer science , organic chemistry , physics , computer science , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , astronomy , programming language
In a previous paper the writer has outlined the crystal structure of a number of long-chain compounds. One of the main results of this work was to show that the crystal molecules (chains) in all these substances can be represented as rods of definite cross section, the crystals being built up of bundles of these rods packed close together. A closer examination of the X-ray photographs of stearic acid gave the clue to the chain structure, and led to a general formula for the structure factor. It was then announced that a more detailed investigation of stearic acid was to follow. The choice of stearic acid was dictated entirely by practical reasons, no other well developed crystals of other similar substances being available at that time. But as it was obviously more desirable to study first the prototype of the long chain compounds, namely, the normal hydrocarbon, efforts were first made to find single crystals of these substances. The search was unexpectedly successful, and the present paper describes an attempt to interpret the results of the X-ray examination of a single crystal of the hydrocarbon C29 H60 .