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A molecular "phase ordering" phase transition leading to a modulated aperiodic composite in n-heptane/urea
C Mariette1, M Huard, P Rabiller
1Institut de Physique de Rennes, UMR UR1-CNRS 6251, Université de Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes, France.
Abstract:
n-Heptane/urea is an aperiodic inclusion compound in which the ratio of host and guest repeats along the channel axis is very close to unity and is found to have a constant value (0.981) from 280 K to 90 K. Below 280 K, two phase transitions are observed. The first (T(c1) = 145 K) is a ferroelastic phase transition that generates superstructure reflections for the host while leaving the guest with 1D order. The second (T(c2) = 130 K) is a "phase ordering" transition to a four-dimensional structure (P2(1)11(0βγ)) with pronounced host-guest intermodulation and a temperature dependent phase shift between guests in adjacent channels.
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