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Updated: Feb 27, 2026

Monitoring the Effects of Illumination on the Structure of Conjugated Polymer Gels Using Neutron Scattering
Published on: December 21, 2017
The Structure of Ethylbenzene, Styrene and Phenylacetylene Determined by Total Neutron Scattering
Joanna Szala-Bilnik1,2, Marta Falkowska2,3, Daniel T Bowron2
1School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
Abstract:
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.
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