Carbon dioxide binary crystals via the thermal decomposition of RDX at high pressure† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental methods for the low temperature and high pressure growth and data collection. Theoretical methods are outlined together with the validation of the cluster expansion methodology. Crystallographic data tables are included. Raw data can be found at University of Strathclyde-Pure. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc01379e Click here for additional data file

Binary crystals of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide have been created from the decomposition of RDX. A carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide solid solution has been captured in a diamond anvil cell following the thermal decomposition of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) at high temperatures and pressures. This is the first time a carbon dioxide binary solid has been observed at high pressure. This observation has stimulated low temperature crystallographic studies of this binary system using recently developed gas absorption apparatus and computational modelling.