Coronene, a polyaromatic hydrocarbon, has been crystallized for the first time in a different polymorph using a crystal growth method that utilizes magnetic fields to access a unit cell configuration that was hitherto unknown. Crystals grown in magnetic field of 1 T are larger, have a different appearance to those grown in zero field and retain their structure in ambient conditions. We identify the new form, beta-coronene, as the most stable at low temperatures. As a result of the new supramolecular configuration we report significantly altered electronic, optical and mechanical properties.
@article{arxiv.1509.04120,
title = {Control of polymorphism in coronene by the application of magnetic fields},
author = {Jason Potticary and Lui R. Terry and Christopher Bell and Andrew M. Collins and Claudio Fontanesi and Gabriele Kociok-Kohn and Simon Crampin and Enrico Da Como and Simon R. Hall},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.04120},
year = {2019}
}