Contribution of neutron diffraction to the study of crystallo-solvates (molecular compounds) from polymers and from supramolecular polymers

Abstract

This paper presents a short outlook of the potentiality of neutron diffraction for the structural study of crystallo-solvates (molecular compounds) prepared from polymer and supramolecular with appropriate solvents. As neutrons interact only with the atom nucleus, neutronic contrast can be varied by using isotopes. The difference between the scattering lengths of hydrogen and deuterium is suitable in the case of polymers and/or supramolecular polymers that both contain a large number of hydrogen atoms, especially when it comes to studying the molecular compounds they form with solvents. By toying with the isotopic labelling of each species, one may access up to four different diffraction patterns, something not attainable by X-ray diffraction. Here, diffraction investigations of molecular compounds from poly ethylene oxide, syndiotactic polystyrene, and a supramolecular polymer prepared from a tri arylamine trisamide are presented. The complementary of neutron with X-rays is shown and discussed.