The formation of the plastic crystal phase in several pentaerythritol derivatives

Abstract

Several substituted pentaerythritol compounds [R—C(CH2OH)3, where R = COOH, CH3, NO2 and NH2] have been found to undergo phase transitions to plastic crystals. With the exception of R = NH2 (which has only one detectable diffraction line in the plastic state), the crystals are f.c.c., a ≃ 8.9 Å.