Pressure-induced Diels-Alder reactions in CH - CF cocrystal towards graphane structure

Wang, Y.*; Dong, X.*; Tang, X.*; Zheng, H.*; Li, K.*; Lin, X.*; Fang, L.*; Sun, G.*; Chen, X.*; Xie, L.*; Bull, C. L.*; Funnell, N. P.*; Hattori, Takanori   ; Sano, Asami   ; Chen, J.*; Hensley, D. K.*; Cody, G. D.*; Ren, Y.*; Lee, H. H.*; Mao, H.-K.*

Pressure-induced polymerization (PIP) of aromatics is a novel method to construct sp-carbon frameworks, and nanothreads with diamond-like structures were synthesized by compressing benzene and its derivatives. Here by compressing benzene-hexafluorobenzene cocrystal(CHCF), we identified H-F-substituted graphane with a layered structure in the PIP product. Based on the crystal structure determined from the in situ neutron diffraction and the intermediate products identified by the gas chromatography-mass spectrum, we found that at 20 GPa CHCF forms tilted columns with benzene and hexafluorobenzene stacked alternatively, which leads to a [4+2] polymer, and then transfers to short-range ordered hydrogenated-fluorinated graphane. The reaction process contains [4+2] Diels-Alder, retro-Diels-Alder, and 1-1' coupling, and the former is the key reaction in the PIP. Our studies confirmed the elemental reactions of the CHCF for the first time, which provides a novel insight into the PIP of aromatics.