We present hard X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements on the polar fluorocarbons HCF 3 and H 3 CF under supercritical conditions and for a range of molecular densities spanning about a factor of ten. The Levesque-Weiss-Reatto inversion scheme has been used to deduce the site-site potentials underlying the measured partial pair distribution functions. The orientational correlations between adjacent fluorocarbon molecules -which are characterized by quite large dipole moments but no tendency to form hydrogen bonds -are small compared to a highly polar system like fluid hydrogen chloride. In fact, the orientational correlations in HCF 3 and H 3 CF are found to be nearly as small as those of fluid CF 4 , a fluorocarbon with no dipole moment.PACS: 61.20.Qg, 61.20.Ja, 61.25.Em
IntroductionThe understanding of dielectric properties resulting from orientational correlations [1,2], as well as the determination of orientational correlations from diffraction experiments [3,4], are long standing problems in the physics of molecular fluids. The simple fluorocarbons HCF 3 and H 3 CF are very interesting model substances in this context, as they posses rather large dipole moments (1.65 · 3.336 · 10 −30 Cm), in the case of trifluoromethane -the same as that of the water molecule) but no tendency to form hydrogen bonds [5]. The investigation of the structure of the simple fluorocarbons H 3 CF and HCF 3 thus enables the study of the structural effect of the molecular dipole alone.Although the properties of these fluorocarbons are interesting, only very limited structural information is available so far. HCF 3 is discussed as replacement for chlorinated hydrocarbons as refrigerant since it it has no ozone damaging effect, it has a shorter atmospheric lifetime and, hence, a lower global warming potential and it presents no toxological risk [6,7]. HCF 3 is discussed for extraction applications [8] and it has been shown, that the enatioselectivity of asymmetric catalysis can be controlled by the density of the fluoroform solvent [9]. The crystal structure of HCF 3 has been determined by a neutron powder diffraction experiment [10] and the molecular geometry by a gas phase electron diffraction