Polymerization of Formic Acid under High Pressure

Alexander F. Goncharov, M. Riad Manaa, Joseph M. Zaug, Richard H. Gee, Laurence E. Fried, Wren B. Montgomery
2005 Physical Review Letters  
We report combined Raman, infrared (IR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements, along with ab initio calculations on formic acid under pressure up to 50 GPa. Contrary to the report of Allan and Clark (PRL 82, 3464 (1999)), we find an infinite chain lowtemperature Pna2 1 structure consisting of trans molecules to be a high-pressure phase at room temperature. Our data indicate the symmetrization and a partially covalent character of the intra-chain hydrogen bonds above approximately 20 GPa.
more » ... n spectra and XRD patterns indicate a loss of the long-range order at pressures above 40 GPa with a large hysteresis at decompression. We attribute this behavior to a three-dimensional polymerization of formic acid.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.94.065505 pmid:15783746 fatcat:jfxtt7onmbg4hlgucc7ojpynay