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High pressure reactivity of phosphorus and hydrogen is relevant to fundamental chemistry, energy conversion and storage, and materials science. Here we report the synthesis of (PH3)2H2, a crystalline van der Waals (vdW) compound (I4cm) made of PH3 and H2 molecules, in a Diamond Anvil Cell by direct catalyst-free high pressure (1.2 GPa) and high temperature (T ≲ 1000 K) chemical reaction of black phosphorus and liquid hydrogen, followed by room T compression above 3.5 GPa. Group 15 elements were previously not known to form H2-containing vdW compounds of their molecular hydrides. The observation of (PH3)2H2, identified by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR, Raman), therefore represents the discovery of a previously missing tile, specifically corresponding to P for pnictogens, in the ability of non-metallic elements to form such compounds. Significant chemical implications encompass reactivity of the elements under extreme conditions, with the observation of the P analogue of the Haber-Bosch reaction for N, fundamental bond theory, and predicted high pressure superconductivity in P-H systems., Chemical elements at high pressure may behave more consistently with their periodic properties than they do at ambient conditions. The authors report the synthesis of PH3 from black phosphorous and hydrogen, and the crystallization of the van der Waals compound (PH3)2H2 which fills a gap in the chemistry of adjacent elements in the periodic table.

Chemical reactivity between As and N2 , leading to the synthesis of crystalline arsenic nitride, is here reported under high pressure and high temperature conditions generated by laser heating in a Diamond Anvil Cell. Single crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction at different pressures between 30 and 40 GPa provides evidence for the synthesis of a covalent compound of AsN stoichiometry, crystallizing in a cubic P213 space group, in which each of the two elements is single-bonded to three atoms of the other and hosts an electron lone pair, in a tetrahedral anisotropic coordination. The identification of characteristic structural motifs highlights the key role played by the directional repulsive interactions between non-bonding electron lone pairs in the formation of the AsN structure. Additional data indicate the existence of AsN at room temperature from 9.8 up to 50 GPa. Implications concern fundamental aspects of pnictogens chemistry and the synthesis of innovative advanced materials.

High-pressure behavior of hexamthyleneteramine (urotropine) was studied in situ using angle-dispersive single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared absorption (FTIR) spectroscopy. Experiments were conducted in various pressure transmitting media (helium and neon for XRD, nitrogen and KBr for FTIR experiments) to study the effect of deviatoric stress on phase transformations. Contrary to As4O6 arsenolite, a material of similar cage-like molecular structure, no pressure-induced helium penetration into the crystal structure was observed. Instead, two pressure-induced structural changes are observed. The first one is suggested by the following occurrences: (i) gradual quenching of the magnitudes of atomic displacement parameters, (ii) diminishing libration contribution to the experimental C−N bond length, (iii) discontinuity in calculated IR-active vibrational modes and (iv) asymptotically vanishing discrepancy between the experimental and DFT‑calculated unit cell volume. All these features reach a plateau at ~4 GPa and can be attributed to a damping of molecular librations and atomic thermal motion, pointing to the existence of a second-order isostructural phase transition. The second transformation, with an onset at ~12.5 GPa is a first-order phase transition to a tetragonal structure, characterized by sluggish kinetics and considerable hysteresis upon decompression. However, it occurs only in non-hydrostatic conditions, induced by a deviatoric stress in the sample. This behavior finds analogies in similar cubic crystals built of highly symmetric cage-like molecules and may be considered a common feature of such systems. Last but not least, it is worth noting successful Hirshfeld atom refinements, carried out for the incomplete high-pressure diffraction data up to 14 GPa, yielded more realistic C−H bond lengths than the independent atom model.

High-pressure behavior of hexamthyleneteramine (urotropine) was studied in situ using angle-dispersive single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared absorption (FTIR) spectroscopy. Experiments were conducted in various pressure transmitting media (helium and neon for XRD, nitrogen and KBr for FTIR experiments) to study the effect of deviatoric stress on phase transformations. Contrary to As4O6 arsenolite, a material of similar cage-like molecular structure, no pressure-induced helium penetration into the crystal structure was observed. Instead, two pressure-induced structural changes are observed. The first one is suggested by the following occurrences: (i) gradual quenching of the magnitudes of atomic displacement parameters, (ii) diminishing libration contribution to the experimental C−N bond length, (iii) discontinuity in calculated IR-active vibrational modes and (iv) asymptotically vanishing discrepancy between the experimental and DFT‑calculated unit cell volume. All these features reach a plateau at ~4 GPa and can be attributed to a damping of molecular librations and atomic thermal motion, pointing to the existence of a second-order isostructural phase transition. The second transformation, with an onset at ~12.5 GPa is a first-order phase transition to a tetragonal structure, characterized by sluggish kinetics and considerable hysteresis upon decompression. However, it occurs only in non-hydrostatic conditions, induced by a deviatoric stress in the sample. This behavior finds analogies in similar cubic crystals built of highly symmetric cage-like molecules and may be considered a common feature of such systems. Last but not least, it is worth noting successful Hirshfeld atom refinements, carried out for the incomplete high-pressure diffraction data up to 14 GPa, yielded more realistic C−H bond lengths than the independent atom model.

Black Phosphorus (bP), which is made by the periodic stacking of Phosphorene [1], has a layered orthorhombic A17 structure, stable at room conditions, that transforms into a layered rhombohedral A7 above ~5 GPa, which is reported to further convert into a non-layered simple cubic structure at ~11 GPa. The sequence of the high pressure (HP) structures of P at room T presents two striking anomalies if compared to the other group 15 elements with higher Z: first, the A17 structure is an isolated exception and second, whereas the HP limit for the A7 decreases in group 15 with increasing Z, according to current literature its pressure value in P (11 GPa) is located below that of As (25 GPa) [2]. A recent experiment [3], in agreement with theoretical predictions [4], has revealed a two-step mechanism for the A7 to sc transition and the existence of a previously unreported, intermediate pseudo simple-cubic (p-sc) structure from 10.5 up to at least 30 GPa, which significantly raised the HP limit for the layered structures of P and provided new experimental evidences to account for the long debated anomalous pressure behaviour of the superconducting critical temperature, T c. In this study we performed synchrotron X-ray diffraction (ID27, ESRF) during room T compression of bP up to 30 GPa in Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) in the presence of He, H2, N2 and Daphne Oil 7474. Our data demonstrated that the p-sc structure is an intrinsic feature of P, independent from the pressure transmitting media. Furthermore, we derived the EOS's of A17, A7 and p-sc phases and demonstrated the first order mechanism of the A7 to p-sc transition. Highlighting the structural relations between A7 and p-sc, here we finally solved the apparent contradictions from previous literature bringing order to the sequence of HP A7 layered structures in group 15 elements [2,5]. Acknowledgements: Thanks are expressed to EC through the European Research Council (ERC) for funding the project PHOSFUN "Phosphorene functionalization: a new platform for advanced multifunctional materials" (Grant Agreement No. 670173) through an ERC Advanced Grant. References: [1] M. Batmunkh et al., Adv. Mater. 28, 8586 (2016) [2] H. Katzke et al., Phys. Rev. B, 2008, 77, 024109 [3] D. Scelta et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 56, 14135 (2017) [4] K. T. Chan et al., Phys. Rev. B 88, 064517 (2013) [5] D. Scelta et al., submitted (2018)