Photoinduced and thermal denitrogenation of bulky triazoline crystals: insights into solid-to-solid transformation

J Am Chem Soc. 2013 May 1;135(17):6626-32. doi: 10.1021/ja401577p. Epub 2013 Apr 17.

Abstract

The photoinduced and thermal denitrogenation of crystalline triazolines with bulky substituents leads to the quantitative formation of aziridines in clean solid-to-solid reactions despite very large structural changes in the transition from reactant to product. Analysis of the reaction progress by powder X-ray diffraction, solid-state (13)C CPMAS NMR, solid-state FTIR spectroscopy, and thermal analysis has revealed that solid-to-solid reactions proceed either through metastable phases susceptible to amorphization or by mechanisms that involve a reconstructive phase transition that culminates in the formation of the stable phase of the product. While the key for a solid-to-solid transformation is that the reaction occurs below the eutectic temperature of the reactant and product two-component system, experimental evidence suggests that those reactions will undergo a reconstructive phase transition when they take place above the glass transition temperature.