Structure and properties of phenol-ammonia compounds

In previous work carried out on HRPD (RB1920009) I made a preliminary characterisation of four new compounds in the binary system phenol-ammonia, including one that exists in two distinct modifications. The structure of one of these, phenol mono-ammoniate, was determined from the powder data. The remaining phases were indexed and space-groups assigned, but the structures could not be determined. With improved knowledge of the phases that exist in this system, and with a new CCR centre stick that allows us to reduce the effects of preferred orientation, my aim is to collect new data from the phenol ammoniates in order to complete the task of structure solution. DFT work on the solved mono-ammoniate structure already reveals a propensity for proton transfer at low pressures, and it is hoped that the more ammonia-rich compounds will exhibit this characteristic perhaps at ambient pressure.