2H nuclear magnetic resonance study on the molecular motion in cyanoadamantane. II. Orientationally ordered and glassy crystalline phase

The orientationally ordered crystalline and glassy plastically crystalline phase of cyanoadamantane were investigated using H2 NMR. Solid-echo line shape, two-dimensional spectrum, and spin-lattice relaxation were analyzed. In both phases, the molecules display solely a rotation around the molecular C3 symmetry axis. For the orientationally ordered phase, a single correlation time characterizes the motion, and the time constant shows an Arrhenius temperature dependence. In contrast, a broad distribution G[ln(τ)] of correlation times is observed for the glassy plastically crystalline phase that leads to characteristically different NMR features such as “two-phase” spectra and pronounced nonexponential relaxation. The distribution G[ln(τ)] can be derived from a temperature independent distribution of activation energies g(Ea), with its mean value lying significantly below the activation energy corresponding to the ordered phase. Thus, the molecular uniaxial rotation proves to be a sensitive probe for the en...