TY - JOUR A1 - Mojsak, Mateusz A1 - Bodo, Filippo A1 - Erba, Alessandro A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A. L. A1 - Kraka, Elfi T1 - Local Vibrational Mode Analysis of Phonon Dispersion Relations in Crystals N2 - We present a general framework for performing local vibrational mode analysis of vibrations in crystalline materials at arbitrary wavevectors throughout the Brillouin zone. The approach enables phonon dispersion relations to be interpreted in terms of chemically meaningful interatomic interactions and structural motifs, providing direct insight into the microscopic origins of the phonon behavior in periodic systems. We demonstrate the methodology for representative one-, two-, and three-dimensional materials including polymeric chains, graphene, and prototypical rock-salt and perovskite crystals. Across these systems, the analysis reveals how specific bonding patterns and structural features govern phonon dispersion relations. This framework provides a quantitative tool for the chemically intuitive analysis of phonon spectra and offers a pathway toward the rational design of phonon-dependent properties in crystalline materials. KW - Phonons KW - Molecular Crystals PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-656430 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jctc.6c00097 SN - 1549-9618 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65643 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Casali, Lucia A1 - Carta, Maria A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Delogu, Francesco A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Correction: Kinetics of the mechanically induced ibuprofen–nicotinamide co-crystal formation by in situ X-ray diffraction N2 - Correction for ‘Kinetics of the mechanically induced ibuprofen–nicotinamide co-crystal formation by in situ X-ray diffraction’ by Lucia Casali et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2024, 26, 22041–22048, https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CP01457J. PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-656362 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d6cp90028c SN - 1463-9076 VL - 28 IS - 8 SP - 5587 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-65636 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Belenguer, A A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Lampronti, G A1 - Sanders, J T1 - Using solid catalysts in disulfide-based dynamic combinatorial solution- and mechano-chemistry N2 - We here show for the first time that solid amines can act as catalysts for disulfide-based dynamic combinatorial chemistry by ball mill grinding. The mechanochemical Equilibrium for the two disulfide reactions studied is reached within one to three hours using ten different amine catalysts. This contrasts with the weeks to months to achieve solution equilibrium for most solid amine catalysts at 2%M at 2mM concentration in a suitable solvent. The final mechanochemical equilibrium is independent of the catalyst used, but varies with other ball mill grinding factors such as the presence of traces of solvent. The different efficiencies of the amines tested are discussed. KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Green chemistry KW - Catalysis PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202102416 SN - 1864-5631 VL - 15 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-53930 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - McMonagle, C. J. A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Chernyshov, D. T1 - FOX-7 high-energy-density material: Thermal expansion and phase transitions revisited N2 - Variable-temperature single-crystal diffraction experiments treated with the Gandolfi method reveal the detailed temperature evolution of the unit-cell dimensions, structural transformations and the phase co-existence of the energetic material FOX-7. Two first-order phase transitions are observed accompanied by abrupt changes in volume and unit-cell dimensions. The thermal expansion is found to be linear for all three phases, albeit highly anisotropic. Moreover, the experimental thermal expansion coefficients differ from those predicted from literature atomistic simulations. KW - Energetic materials KW - Thermal expansion KW - Gandolfi method KW - Phase transition KW - Variable temperature PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1107/S2052520621013299 SN - 2052-5206 VL - 78 IS - 1 SP - 91 EP - 95 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-54286 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kosareva, E. A1 - Gainutdinov, R. A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Ananyev, I. A1 - Muravyev, N. T1 - Mechanical Stimulation of Energetic Materials at the Nanoscale N2 - The initiation of energetic materials by mechanical stimuli is a critical stage of their functioning, but remains poorly understood. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) we explore the microscopic initiation behavior of four prototypical energetic materials: 3,4-dinitropyrazole, 𝜖-CL-20, 𝛼-PETN and picric acid. Along with the various chemical structures, these energetic compounds cover a range of application types: a promising melt-cast explosive, the most powerful energetic compound in use, a widespread primary explosive, and a well-established nitroaromatic explosive from the early development of energetics. For the softest materials (picric acid and 3,4-dinitropyrazole), the surfaces were found to behave dynamically, quickly rearranging in response to mechanical deformation. The pit created by nanoscale friction stimulation on the surface of 3,4-dinitropyrazole doubled in volume upon aging for half an hour. Over the same time frame, a similar pit on picric acid surface increased in volume by more than seven-fold. Remarkably, increased humidity was found to reduce the rate of surface rearrangement, potentially offering an origin for the desensitization of energetic materials when wetted. Finally, we identify an inverse correlation between the surface dynamics and mechanical sensitivity of our test energetic compounds. This strongly suggests that surface dynamics influence a material’s ability to dissipate excess energy, acting as a buffer towards mechanical initiation. KW - Energetic materials KW - Mechanical Properties KW - Mechanical Sensitivity PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D2CP00832G VL - 24 IS - 15 SP - 8890 EP - 8900 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-54562 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aree, T. A1 - McMonagle, C. J. A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Chernyshov, D. T1 - Low-frequency lattice vibrations from atomic displacement parameters of a-FOX-7, a high energy density material N2 - Highly anharmonic thermal vibrations may serve as a source of structural instabilities resulting in phase transitions, chemical reactions and even the mechanical disintegration of a material. Ab initio calculations model thermal motion within a harmonic or sometimes quasi-harmonic approximation and must be complimented by experimental data on temperature-dependent vibrational frequencies. Here multi-temperature atomic displacement parameters (ADPs), derived from a single-crystal synchrotron diffraction experiment, are used to characterize low-frequency lattice vibrations in the alpha-FOX-7 layered structure. It is shown that despite the limited quality of the data, the extracted frequencies are reasonably close to those derived from inelastic scattering, Raman measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Vibrational anharmonicity is parameterized by the Grüneisen parameters, which are found to be very different for in-layer and out-of-layer vibrations. KW - Energetic Materials KW - DFT KW - Structural dynamics KW - X-ray diffraction PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1107/S2052520622002700 SN - 2052-5206 VL - 78 SP - 376 EP - 384 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-54832 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Morrison, C. T1 - From lattice vibrations to molecular dissociation N2 - The ease with which an energetic material can be initiated by mechanical impact is a critical parameter directing material safety and application. While impact sensitivity metrics are traditionally derived experimentally, recent developments have highlighted that the phenomenon is amenable to first principles simulation. In this chapter, we will outline a fully ab initio approach to predict the relative impact sensitivities of energetic materials based on the mechanochemical principles that link the impact event to vibrational energy transfer. This mechanism is key to rationalizing how a mechanical impact—which deposits energy into the low-frequency lattice vibrations—results in a molecular response. By simulating the vibrational energy levels (the so-called phonon density of states, PDOS) using first-principles computational methods (typically dispersion-corrected plane-wave density functional theory, PW-DFT) we can calculate the relative rate of energy propagation from the delocalized low-energy lattice vibrations through to the localized molecular modes. The latter traps the energy, which eventually results in bond rupture through heightened vibrational excitation. This method, based on vibrational up-pumping, offers a route toward predicting the impact sensitivities of a broad range of energetic materials, provided the crystal structure of the compound (or salt or co-crystal) is known. While it does not offer insight into the sensitizing roles undoubtedly played by crystal defects or grain boundaries, it does provide a level of understanding at the molecular and crystal packing levels. Correspondingly, this approach offers a feedback mechanism to chemists and materials scientists to guide the design of new materials with desired impact sensitivity behavior. KW - Energetic materials KW - Density functional theory KW - Material design PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822971-2.00010-3 VL - 22 SP - 215 EP - 232 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-54717 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Charlesworth, M. A1 - Lampronti, G. A1 - Belenguer, Ana M. A1 - Day, S. A1 - Saunders, L. A1 - Connolly, E. A1 - Midgley, P. A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A. L. T1 - Influence of Liquid on Crystallite Size Evolution During Ball Milling N2 - Liquid assisted grinding (LAG) is a commonly used mechanochemical procedure, especially for polymorphic conversions. However, it is not understood what effect liquid additives actually play in driving mechanochemical polymorphic conversions, precluding our ability to control solid form transformations under mechanochemical conditions. We here present a time-resolved in situ (TRIS) synchrotron powder Xray diffraction (PXRD) monitoring strategy that can track, with few nm resolution, the evolution of crystalline size under liquid assisted ball milling conditions. We apply this method to investigate the influence of liquid additives on the polymorphic conversion of the 1:1 co-crystal of theophylline and benzamide, with particular focus on the role that crystallite size plays in driving ball milling induced polymorphic transformations. We find that the crystallite sizes achieved by ball milling are highly sensitive to the amount of liquid added to the reaction mixture. Liquid additives generally lead to larger crystallite sizes as compared with neat grinding protocol, with our findings indicating that crystallite size reduction is not the main factor that causes polymorph conversion under liquid assisted grinding conditions. The data presented clearly indicates the presence of an induction period before phase transformation begins with a minimum value in the crystallite size of the starting polymorph indicating the end of that induction period. KW - Ball milling KW - In situ diffraction KW - Phase transformation KW - Liquid assisted grinding KW - Crystallite size PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-656783 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.5c01662 SN - 1528-7483 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) AN - OPUS4-65678 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Revealing Mechanical Plastic Bending in Coordination Polymer Crystals N2 - Crystalline molecular materials with mechanical flexibility are promising for technological development. This is particularly true for the development of advanced materials with optoelectronic and biomedical applications. While a growing number of mechanically flexible crystalline molecular materials are being reported,1 they remain scarce. At present, most discoveries are serendipitous, as limited design strategies are currently known. Amongst these strategies Desiraju et. al. suggested that elastic materials must contain herringbone structures.2 For plastic crystals, the so-called ‘shape-synthon’ strategy has been developed, in which weak non-covalent interactions are introduced into structures to facilitate mobility of molecules.3 This includes formation of slip planes. Generally, these models have performed very well at predicting and rationalizing the mechanical properties of new materials. Recently, however, a family of one-dimensional covalent networks (coordination polymers; CPs) has been described, which show mechanical elasticity. With drastically different structural chemistry, these systems do not seem to adhere to the currently established rules. Herein, we present the first such system: a plastically bendable crystal of a 1D CP, [Zn(-Cl)2(3,5-Cl2Py)2]n (where 3,5-Cl2Py = 3,5-dichloro pyridine). This CP crystallizes in a tetragonal, and can therefore be bent over two major faces to acute angles without fracturing. We conducted bending and indentation experiments to quantify the mechanical properties of the CP crystal. This was complimented by Vibrational (Raman and Terahertz) spectroscopy and theoretical calculations for deeper understanding of molecular level structural deformation. T2 - 32nd European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM32) CY - University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria DA - 18.08.2019 KW - Mechanical Flexiblity KW - Crystal engineering KW - Coordination Polymers PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49875 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Linberg, Kevin A1 - Ali, Naveed Zafar A1 - Etter, M. A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Rademann, K. A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - A Comparative Study of the Ionic Cocrystals NaX (α-d-Glucose)2 (X = Cl, Br, I) N2 - The mechanochemical formation of the ionic cocrystals of glucose (Glc) and sodium salts Glc2NaCl·H2O (1) and Glc2NaX (X = Br (2), I (3)) is presented. Products are formed by co-milling Glc with three sodium salts (NaCl, NaBr, NaI). The ionic cocrystals were obtained under both neat grinding and liquid-assisted grinding conditions, the later found to accelerate the reaction kinetics. The crystal structures of the ionic cocrystals (2) and (3) were solved from powder X-ray diffraction data. The structure solution contrasts with the structure of Glc2NaCl·H2O (1) where the electron density at three halide crystallographic sites is modeled as of being the intermediate between water molecule and a chloride ion. The reaction pathways of the three ionic cocrystals were investigated in real time using our tandem approach comprising a combination of in situ synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate the rapid formation of each cocrystal directly from their respective starting materials without any intermediate moiety formation. The products were further characterized by DTA-TG and elemental analysis. KW - In situ KW - Co-crystal KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Glucose PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.8b01929 VL - 19 IS - 8 SP - 4293 EP - 4299 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-48781 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Michalchuk, Adam A1 - Stolar, Jasna A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Gugin, Nikita A1 - Casali, Lucia T1 - Mechanochemical pathways to sustainability: from molecular insights to applications N2 - Mechanochemical Innovations for Sustainable Synthesis of Framework Materials and Industrial ScaleUp Mechanochemistry has emerged as a powerful approach for sustainable materials synthesis and processing, with significant potential to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This presentation will highlight our recent advancements in understanding, monitoring, and scaling-up mechanochemical synthesis of framework materials, focusing on the balance between fundamental understanding of reaction mechanisms and its practical applications in energy storage and energy transfer materials. A central focus of our work has been the development and application of time-resolved in situ monitoring techniques for mechanochemical processes. Our research on real-time synchrotron X-ray diffraction has enabled unprecedented insights into reaction pathways and kinetics. Recently, we have successfully applied energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction for time-resolved in situ monitoring of reactive extrusion, marking a significant step towards ‘lighting up’ industrial-scale mechanochemistry. Bridging fundamental understanding with practical applications, we have explored the mechanochemical synthesis of functional materials for energy storage and transfer, making process in the mechanochemical synthesis of highly proton-conductive metal phosphonates, demonstrating the potential of mechanochemistry to manufacture advanced materials for energy applications. T2 - GDCh Universität Marburg CY - Marburg, Germany DA - 10.02.2025 KW - Situ investigation KW - Nanoparticles KW - Metal phosphonates PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64844 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -