High‐pressure and environment effects in selenourea and its labile crystal field around molecules.

Ambient‐pressure trigonal phase α of selenourea SeC(NH2)2 is noncentrosymmetric, with high Z′ = 9. Under high pressure it undergoes several intriguing transformations, depending on the pressure‐transmitting medium and the compression or recrystallization process. In glycerine or oil, α‐SeC(NH2)2 transforms into phase β at 0.21 GPa; however in water, phase α initially increases its volume and can be compressed to 0.30 GPa due to the formation of α‐SeC(NH2)2·xH2O. The single crystals of α‐SeC(NH2)2 and of its partial hydrate α‐SeC(NH2)2·xH2O are shattered by pressure‐induced transitions. Single crystals of phase β‐SeC(NH2)2 were in situ grown in a diamond‐anvil cell and studied by X‐ray diffraction. The monoclinic phase β is centrosymmetric, with Z′ = 2. It is stable to 3.20 GPa at least, but it cannot be recovered at ambient conditions due to strongly strained NH...Se hydrogen bonds. No hydrogen‐bonding motifs present in the urea structures have been found in selenourea phases α and β. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]