The structure and dynamics of solid benzene. I. A neutron powder diffraction study of deuterated benzene from 4 K to the melting point.

The crystal structure of deuterated benzene has been investigated over the complete temperature range 4–280 K. Our results are in excellent agreement with previous studies, recorded at a limited number of temperatures, and display a smooth variation of the lattice parameters over the complete temperature range. No evidence of the suggested low-temperature phase transitions, or marked premelting effects have been found. Detailed measurements of the lattice parameters close to the melting point display an anomalous behavior of the b lattice parameter and the orientation of the molecules which is believed to be evidence of a disordering transition at temperatures above the melting point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]