1 9704964 Kaner Highly exothermic chemical exchange (metathesis) reactions in the solid-state can be designed to lead rapidly to materials that are otherwise difficult to form. This project will explore the application of pressure to open a new parameter space for the synthesis of high pressure phases which inaccessible under ambient conditions. This approach to solid state metathesis reactions will provide a new synthetic method for forming high quality solid solutions, and for controlling crystallite size, and the important questions explored in this research will have advance considerably the area of chemical processing. %%% The classes of materials to be investigated are of considerable potential technological importance and include crystal size and photoluminescence studies on gallium nitride, and cubic boron nitride, the second hardest materials known after diamond. Methods for forming diamond and substituted carbon materials will also be tested. ***
