ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

The low-temperature crystal structure of neopentane.

Abstract: Neopentane [tetramethylmethane, C(CH3)4] is an ideal tetrahedral molecule, with 4 ?3m symmetry, being the simplest alkane to contain a quaternary carbon and the lightest homologue in the series X(CH3)4, where X may be any one of the group IV elements, C, Si, Ge, Sn or Pb. Neopentane solidifies below 256.6 K in an orientationally-disordered cubic-close-packed plastic crystal. The structure and properties of this plastic crystalline phase have been extensively studied. At 140 K, neopentane transforms into an unknown structure that has been described as cubic, tetragonal and hexagonal. Using perdeuterated neopentane our goals are: (1) to determine the nature of the low?temperature phase of neopentane; (2) to produce a complete structure refinement; (3) to characterise the phase transition (including any hysteresis / frozen-in disorder) in to/from the higher-temperature phase.

Principal Investigator: Professor Stewart Parker
Local Contact: Dr Dominic Fortes
Experimenter: Professor Dietmar Kuck

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2000217

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2000217

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Stewart Parker et al; (2021): The low-temperature crystal structure of neopentane., STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2000217

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.