A low temperature phase transition in NaOD near 150 K

A phase transition in NaOD has been observed calorimetrically near 150 K. The estimated enthalpy of the transition is 200(75) $\text{Joules}\text{mole}$. This phase transition has no corresponding analog in the protonated material, NaOH, down to 10 K. Other physical techniques also reveal the phase transition but give slightly varying values for the transition temperature. These techniques include ²³Na nuclear quadrupole resonance, ²³Na nuclear magnetic resonance and ²D magnetic resonance. The resonance experiments indicate that the phase transition is a continuous one and that in the lower temperature phase there is one sodium and deuterium crystal Iographic site per cell. X-ray powder diffraction of the low temperature phase indicates that it is probably monoclinic with a_m = 3.388(1)A, b_m = 11.34(1)A, c_m = 3.418(1)A,β = 90.52° and V = 131 .4ų. The volume of the unit cell is greater at the lower temperature than at the higher temperature. The ²³Na pure quadrupole resonance frequency at 77 K is 1.784(2) MHz with an asymmetry parameter of 0.82(5).