Ab initio structure determination of the high-temperature phase of anhydrous caffeine by X-ray powder diffraction

Acta Crystallogr B. 2005 Jun;61(Pt 3):329-34. doi: 10.1107/S010876810500546X. Epub 2005 May 13.

Abstract

The high-temperature phase I of anhydrous caffeine was obtained by heating and annealing the purified commercial form II at 450 K. This phase I can be maintained at low temperature in a metastable state. A powder X-ray diffraction pattern was recorded at 278 K with a laboratory diffractometer equipped with an INEL curved position-sensitive detector CPS120. Phase I is dynamically orientationally disordered (the so-called plastic phase). The Rietveld refinements were achieved with rigid-body constraints. It was assumed that on each site, a molecule can adopt three preferential orientations with equal occupation probability. Under a deep undercooling of phase I, below 250 K, the metastable state enters in a glassy crystal state.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Caffeine / chemistry*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Powder Diffraction
  • Temperature*
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Caffeine