On the Phase Transition in Pentaerythritol (I)

Abstract

It has been already known from the crystal structure determined independently by Watanabe and one of the present authors'' and by Cox and his co-workers'b' that the molecules in this tetragonal crystal are linked together by hydrogen bonds in such a way that they constitute typical layer lattice. Recently two of the present authors and Suzuki have measured the vapor pressures of this tetragonal form at various temperatures and determined the lattice energy of this crystal. They have also calculated theoretically the lattice energy and by comparing these results they evaluated the energy of hydrogen bond in this crystal. ' On the other hand, it has also been found by Ebert '' in 1931 that this substance undergoes transformation at about 180C. The crystal structure of the high temperature cubic form has been then determined by Watanabe and one of the present authors in 1938.