Abstract
The variety of systems that a high pressure service crystallographer gets to study is vast and varied. Even structurally simplistic organic systems can exhibit remarkable pressure-responsive behaviour. Furthermore, the crystal structures of small organic molecules that exist as liquids under ambient conditions can be obtained via in situ high pressure crystallisation methods, allowing for the analysis of previously unknown solid-state phases.
In another vein, the behaviour of organometallic systems under pressure can be equally as interesting. The activation of B-H bonds in σ-borane complexes, for example, are of interest not only due to their applications in catalysis (hydroborations, borylations), but because of the ambiguity of σ-borane coordination modes, which can be challenging to formerly define. Because σ-borane complexes are intermediates to B-H activation, they can be difficult to study due to the transience of the highly reactive species. High pressure X-ray diffraction studies have been utilised in order to try and induce oxidative addition of these bonds in a series of rhodium pincer complexes through the application of pressure.