Surface nucleation in solid-state dimerisation of nitrosobenzenes promoted by sublimation

Abstract

The dimerisation reaction in crystals of monomeric nitrosobenzenes proceeds by the nucleation and growth mechanism with nucleation first occurring at crystal's kinks followed by nucleation at edges and surfaces. Nucleation as well as the reaction rate are strongly reduced if sublimation is hindered under the corresponding experimental conditions and increased if sublimation is promoted.