The high-pressure behavior of dravite tourmaline [Na(Mg3)Al6(Si6O18)(BO3)3(OH)3(OH)] has been studied using luminescence spectroscopy and synchrotron-based single-crystal diffraction up to ~65 and ~24 GPa, respectively. Two emission bands associated with Cr3+/V2+ substitution are constant in energy up to ~9.0 GPa, and they shift to longer wavelength at higher pressures, suggesting that a change in compressional mechanism could occur at this pressure. Single-crystal diffraction data show subtle changes in ring ditrigonality occur near 9.0 GPa, which could cause the observed change in luminescence. Near 15 GPa, a splitting of one of the emission bands is observed, suggesting that a phase transition occurs at this pressure and that two unique octahedral sites are present in the high-pressure phase. Hysteresis is not observed on decompression, which indicates that this is a second-order transition, and the high-pressure structure appears to be metastable up to ~65 GPa. Single-crystal diffraction measurements show that a phase transition from rhombohedral R3m to rhombohedral R3 occurs at pressures near 15.4 GPa. The high-pressure phase is characterized by a distorted Si6O18 ring (e.g., the Si-Si-Si angles deviate from 120°), and the Si, Al, O6, O7, and O8 sites of the low-pressure phase split, implying that the high-pressure phase of tourmaline is a higher entropy phase. The large X-site exerts the primary control on compressibility, and the substitution of larger cations into this site will likely lower the pressure at which this transition occurs. Dravite tourmaline shows anisotropic compression with the c-axis being more compressible than the a-axis. The pressure and volume data up to ~15.4 GPa were fit with second- and third-order Birch-Murnaghan equations of state. We obtain a bulk modulus, K0 = 109.6(3.2) GPa, and a pressure derivative, K0′ c K'0 = 4.6(8) GPa, and with the pressure derivative set to 4, a bulk modulus of 112.0(1.0) GPa is derived. Moreover, our high-pressure results show that massive overbonding of the X and Y sites can be accommodated by the tourmaline structure. This unexpected result may explain the extraordinary structural tolerance with respect to chemical substitution on the X, Y, and Z sites.

Lawsonite CaAl2Si2O7(OH)2·H2O is an important water carrier in subducting oceanic crusts and the primary hydrous phase in basalt at depths greater than ~80 km. We have conducted high-pressure synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments on natural lawsonite at room temperature up to ~10.0 GPa to study its high-pressure polymorphism. We find that lawsonite remains orthorhombic with Cmcm symmetry up to ~9.3 GPa and shows nearly isotropic compression. Above ~9.3 GPa, lawsonite becomes monoclinic with P21/m symmetry. Across the phase transition, the Ca polyhedron becomes markedly distorted, and the average positions of the H2O molecules and hydroxyls change. The changes observed in the H-atom positions under compression are different than the low-temperature changes in this material. We resolve for the first time the H-bonding configuration of the high-pressure monoclinic phase of lawsonite. A bond valence approach is deployed to determine that the phase transition from orthorhombic to monoclinic is primarily driven by the Si2O7 groups, and in particular their bridging oxygen atoms (O1). The changes in the structure strongly indicate that entropy increases across the symmetry-lowering transition and hence that the slope of the phase transition is negative. Monoclinic lawsonite is thus stable under the pressure and temperature conditions that exist in the Earth and is likely to be a major water carrier in colder, deep subducted slabs. Monoclinic lawsonite also likely has enhanced electrical conductivity along its c axis due to its dynamically disordered hydrogen atoms.

LaB6 has been a material of interest for decades due to its thermionic emission, plasmonic properties, and low work function, and researchers continue to discover new properties even now. In order to meet growing interest in customizing these properties, it is important to gain better control over the system and a better understanding of the fundamental mechanism of LaB6 crystal growth and formation. Traditional synthetic methods require very high temperatures, at which point crystallization happens too quickly to be readily studied. Our discovery that LaB6 may be made using lower temperatures has made it possible to slow down crystal formation enough for lattice growth to be observed. We report here an in situ diffraction study of the reaction between LaCl3 and NaBH4. In observing the evolution of the (1 1 1), (1 1 0), and (2 0 0) lattice planes of LaB6, we have discovered that the Cl of LaCl3 has a strong influence on crystal formation, and that excess Cl, temperature and heating rate may all be used as tools to control the LaB6 final product.

Presented herein is a study of the acid-induced demetalation of two sterically hindered copper corroles, Cu β-octabromo-meso-triphenylcorrole (Cu[Br₈TPC]) and β-octakis(trifluoromethyl)-meso-tris(p-methoxyphenyl)corrole (Cu[(CF₃)₈TpOMePC]). Unlike reductive demetalation, which affords the free-base β-octabromocorrole, demetalation of Cu[Br₈TPC] under non- reductive conditions (CHCl₃/H₂SO₄) resulted in moderate yields of free-base 5- and 10-hydroxy isocorroles. The isomeric free bases could be complexed to Co^II and Ni^II, affording stable complexes. Only reductive demetalation was found to work for Cu[(CF₃)₈TpOMePC], affording a highly saddled, hydrated corrole, H₃[5-OH,10-H-(CF₃)₈TpOMePC], where the elements of water had added across C₅ and C₁₀. Interaction of this novel free base with Co^II resulted in Co[iso-10-H-[CF₃)₈TpOMePC], a Co^II 10-hydro isocorrole. The new metal complexes were all characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and, despite their sterically hindered nature, were found to exhibit almost perfectly planar isocorrole cores.

We report the first high-pressure single-crystal structures of hybrid perovskites. The crystalline semiconductors (MA)PbX3 (MA = CH3NH3 (+), X = Br(-) or I(-)) afford us the rare opportunity of understanding how compression modulates their structures and thereby their optoelectronic properties. Using atomic coordinates obtained from high-pressure single-crystal X-ray diffraction we track the perovskites' precise structural evolution upon compression. These structural changes correlate well with pressure-dependent single-crystal photoluminescence (PL) spectra and high-pressure bandgaps derived from density functional theory. We further observe dramatic piezochromism where the solids become lighter in color and then transition to opaque black with compression. Indeed, electronic conductivity measurements of (MA)PbI3 obtained within a diamond-anvil cell show that the material's resistivity decreases by 3 orders of magnitude between 0 and 51 GPa. The activation energy for conduction at 51 GPa is only 13.2(3) meV, suggesting that the perovskite is approaching a metallic state. Furthermore, the pressure response of mixed-halide perovskites shows new luminescent states that emerge at elevated pressures. We recently reported that the perovskites (MA)Pb(Br x I1-x )3 (0.2 < x < 1) reversibly form light-induced trap states, which pin their PL to a low energy. This may explain the low voltages obtained from solar cells employing these absorbers. Our high-pressure PL data indicate that compression can mitigate this PL redshift and may afford higher steady-state voltages from these absorbers. These studies show that pressure can significantly alter the transport and thermodynamic properties of these technologically important semiconductors.

Chemical crystallography at synchrotrons was pioneered at the Daresbury SRS station 9.8. The chemical crystallography beamlines at the Advanced Light Source seek to follow that example, with orders of magnitude more flux than a lab source, and various in situ experiments. This article attempts to answer why a chemist would require synchrotron X-rays, to describe the techniques available at the ALS chemical crystallography beamlines, and place the current facilities in a historical context.

Crystals of a Cu complex of the macrocyclic Schiff-base calixpyrrole or 'Pacman' ligand, Cu₂(L), do not contain any solvent-accessible void space at ambient pressure, but adsorb neon at 4.67 GPa, forming Cu₂(L)·3.5Ne.

The crystal structure of 4-iodobenzonitrile, which is monoclinic (space group I2/a) under ambient conditions, contains chains of molecules linked through C≡N···I halogen-bonds. The chains interact through CH···I, CH···N and π-stacking contacts. The crystal structure remains in the same phase up to 5.0 GPa, the b axis compressing by 3.3%, and the a and c axes by 12.3 and 10.9 %. Since the chains are exactly aligned with the crystallographic b axis these data characterise the compressibility of the I···N interaction relative to the inter-chain interactions, and indicate that the halogen bond is the most robust intermolecular interaction in the structure, shortening from 3.168(4) at ambient pressure to 2.840(1) Å at 5.0 GPa. The π∙∙∙π contacts are most sensitive to pressure, and in one case the perpendicular stacking distance shortens from 3.6420(8) to 3.139(4) Å. Packing energy calculations (PIXEL) indicate that the π∙∙∙π interactions have been distorted into a destabilising region of their potentials at 5.0 GPa. The structure undergoes a transition to a triclinic ( P 1 ¯ ) phase at 5.5 GPa. Over the course of the transition, the initially colourless and transparent crystal darkens on account of formation of microscopic cracks. The resistance drops by 10% and the optical transmittance drops by almost two orders of magnitude. The I···N bond increases in length to 2.928(10) Å and become less linear [-1 and the mixed C-I/I..N stretching frequency observed by Raman spectroscopy increases from 249 to 252 cm^-1. The driving force of the transition is shown to be relief of strain built-up in the π∙∙∙π interactions rather than minimisation of the molar volume. The triclinic phase persists up to 8.1 GPa.

A new design for a double-sided high-pressure diamond anvil cell laser heating set-up is described. The prototype is deployed at beamline 12.2.2 of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Our compact design features shortened mechanical lever arms, which results in more stable imaging optics, and thus more user friendly and more reliable temperature measurements based on pyrometry. A modification of the peak scaling method was implemented for pyrometry, including an iterative method to determine the absolute peak temperature, thus allowing for quasi-real time temperature mapping of the actual hotspot within a laser-heated diamond anvil cell without any assumptions on shape, size, and symmetry of the hotspot and without any assumptions to the relationship between fitted temperature and peak temperature. This is important since we show that the relationship between peak temperature and temperature obtained by fitting the Planck function against the thermal emission spectrum averaged over the entire hotspot is not constant but depends on variable fitting parameters (in particular, the size and position of the fitting window). The accuracy of the method is confirmed through measuring melting points of metal wires at ambient pressure. Having absolute temperature maps in real time allows for more differentiated analyses of laser heating experiments. We present such an example of the pressure variations within a heated hotspot of AgI at a loaded base pressure of 3.8 GPa.

The employment of cyanato (OCN-) group in high oxidation state manganese cluster chemistry, in conjunction with carboxylate ions and the organic chelating/bridging ligand 2-(hydroxymethyl)pyridine (hmpH), is reported. The syntheses, crystal structures, and magnetochemical characterization are described for [Mn16O8(OR)4(OCN)4(O2CMe)12(hmp)6(ROH)2] (R = Me (1), Et (2)) and [Mn18O14(O2CR)18(hmp)4(hmpH)2(H2O)2] (R = Me (3), Et (4)). The 2:1:1:1 reactions of Mn(O2CMe)2·4H2O, hmpH, NaOCN and NEt3 in solvent MeOH or EtOH afford the isostructural complexes [Mn16O8(OR)4(OCN)4(O2CMe)12(hmp)6(ROH)2] (R = Me (1), Et (2)). The [Mn16(μ4-O)4(μ3-O)4(μ-OMe)4(μ3-OR)6(μ-OR)6]10+ core of representative complex 1 comprises a MnII4MnIII4 double-cubane subunit attached on either side to two symmetry-related MnIIMnIII3 defective dicubanes. A similar reaction of Mn(O2CR)2·4H2O, hmpH, NaOCN and NEt3, but in solvent MeCN, led instead to the formation of [Mn18O14(O2CR)18(hmp)4(hmpH)2(H2O)2] (R = Me (3), Et (4)). Compounds 3 and 4 are very similar to each other and can be described as a central [MnIII4(μ-O)6] rodlike subunit attached on either side to two symmetry-related [Mn7O9] subunits. Variable-temperature, solid-state dc and ac magnetic susceptibility studies revealed the presence of predominant antiferromagnetic exchange interactions in all compounds, and possible S = 2 or 1 (for 1 and 2) and S = 0 (for 3 and 4) ground state spin values. The combined results demonstrate the ability of cyanato groups to facilitate the formation of new polynuclear MnII/III complexes with structures different than these obtained from the use of the related azides.