Elastic and piezoelectric properties of β-glycine – a quantum crystallography view on intermolecular interactions and a high-pressure phase transition

The effect of hydro­static compression on the elastic and electronic properties of β-glycine was studied using a quantum crystallography approach. The interrelations between the changes in the microscopic quantum pressure in the electronic continuum, macroscopic compressibility and piezoelectricity were considered. The geometries and energies of hydrogen bonds in the crystal structure of β-glycine were considered as functions of pressure before and after a phase transition into the β′-phase in relation to the mechanism of this phase transition.