Crystal Structure of Acetanilide: Use of Polarized Infra-Red Radiation

Abstract

THE crystal structure of acetanilide has been determined¹ by classical X-ray diffraction methods, making use of information derived from polarized infra-red radiation technique as a time-saver in the trial-and-error process. The crystals from water or ethanol vary in form from plates {100} to truncated bipyramids {111}, but growth from the molten state results in acicular crystals, elongated along [b] and tabular on (100). The orthorhombic unit cell contains eight molecules and has dimensions: [a] = 19.50, [b] = 9.46 and [c] = 7.96 A.; space group Pbca — D_2h¹⁵.