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Crystal Structure Of Propionic Acid (open access)

Crystal Structure Of Propionic Acid

The crystal structures of the normal fatty acids of low molecular weight have been rather neglected until recently. Formic acid and acetic acid occur in the solid as hydrogen-bonded linear polymers, while several acids with eleven or more carbon atoms per molecule exist in the solid as dimers. The melting points of these acids, when plotted against number of carbon atoms, fall on two rather similar curves for even and odd numbers of carbon atoms, respectively, each with a minimum near five carbon atoms. These facts and hope of explaining the melting-point behavior led us to examine the structures of propionic and butyric acid crystals. These crystals have different structures, but both contain dimers.
Date: May 23, 1961
Creator: Strieter, Frederick J. & Templeton, David H.
System: The UNT Digital Library