An NQR study of the polymorphism of triphenylchloromethane

This work is a study of the polymorphic transformations of triphenylchloromethane (TPCM) as well as the structure and dynamics of this molecular solid. Crystalline TPCM has been studied by a variety of techniques and many of its physical properties have been characterized. Previous crystallographic studies have reported the existence of two crystalline phases. Phase II, stable above 372 K, is trigonal with space group P3; and Z = 6. The compound associates pairwise (halogen-to-halogen and triphenylmethyl-to-triphenylmethyl) and linearly with all carbon-halogen bonds aligned with C3 and S6 axes of the lattice. Below 372 K, a triclinic modification (phase III) is found (P1;, Z = 10) where the molecules are also aligned pairwise with close Cl cdots, three dots, centered Cl interactions. However, the C-Cl bonds were no longer parallel. On the other hand, DTA studies have also reported a phase transition at 381 K (to phase I) that can been obtained from slow evaporation of pentane or ether solutions. Crystallographic information about these phases has not been obtained in the literature. Five NQR lines have been observed from liquid nitrogen temperature to 372 K in good agreement with phase III that has Z = 10. Above 372 K, three lines are observed which are related to phase II. Any effort to observe phase I through NQR failed; phase II remains until the sample is melted. Instead, if phase II is cooled down, a second-order phase transition to a new phase at 259 K is observed through NQR studies. The temperature dependence of experimental data in the phase transition region is well explained assuming the transitions occur when molecules in the crystal lattice change their direction uniformly with a change in temperature and the liberational modes, coupled in an anharmonic way with the uniform mode, change their frequencies in such a way that entropy compensates the unfavorable potential energy increase due to the uniform angular tilt.