The discovery of superconductivity at 203 K in H3S 1 brought attention back to conventional superconductors whose properties can be described by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) and the Migdal-Eliashberg theories. These theories predict that high, and even room temperature superconductivity (RTSC) is possible in metals possessing certain favorable parameters such as lattice vibrations at high frequencies. However, these general theories do not suffice to predict real superconductors. New superconducting materials can be predicted now with the aid of first principles calculations based on Density Functional Theory (DFT). In particular, the calculations suggested a new family of hydrides possessing a clathrate structure, where the host atom (Ca, Y, La) is at the center of the cage formed by hydrogen atoms 2-4 . For LaH10 and YH10 superconductivity, with critical temperatures Tc ranging between 240 and 320 K is predicted at megabar pressures 3-6 . Here, we report superconductivity with a record Tc  250 K within the Fm3m structure of LaH10 at a pressure P  170 GPa. We proved the existence of superconductivity at 250 K through the observation of zero-resistance, isotope effect, and the decrease of Tc under an external magnetic field, which suggests an upper critical magnetic field of 120 T at zerotemperature. The pressure dependence of the transition temperatures Tc (P) has a maximum of 250-252 K at the pressure of about 170 GPa. This leap, by  50 K, from the previous Tc record of 203 K 1 indicates the real possibility of achieving RTSC (that is at 273 K) in the near future at high pressures and the perspective of conventional superconductivity at ambient pressure.

The discovery of superconducting H3S with a critical temperature Tc∼200 K opened a door to room temperature superconductivity and stimulated further extensive studies of hydrogen-rich compounds stabilized by high pressure. Here, we report a comprehensive study of the yttrium-hydrogen system with the highest predicted Tcs among binary compounds and discuss the contradictions between different theoretical calculations and experimental data. We synthesized yttrium hydrides with the compositions of YH3, YH4, YH6 and YH9 in a diamond anvil cell and studied their crystal structures, electrical and magnetic transport properties, and isotopic effects. We found superconductivity in the Im-3m YH6 and P63/mmc YH9 phases with maximal Tcs of ∼220 K at 183 GPa and ∼243 K at 201 GPa, respectively. Fm-3m YH10 with the highest predicted Tc > 300 K was not observed in our experiments, and instead, YH9 was found to be the hydrogen-richest yttrium hydride in the studied pressure and temperature range up to record 410 GPa and 2250 K.

The role of the distortion of the hydrogen bond network and of the motions of the -CH 2SH side chains in the phase transition in the orthorhombic L-cysteine ( (+)NH 3-CH(CH 2SH)-COO (-)) on cooling and the reverse transformation on heating is discussed. The extended character of the phase transition, which was recently discovered by adiabatic calorimetry [ J. Phys. Chem. B 2007, 111, 9186 ], and its very high sensitivity to the thermal prehistory of the sample could be interpreted based on the changes in the polarized Raman spectra measured for the single-crystals in several orientations in the temperature range 3-300 K and precise diffraction data on the changes in intramolecular conformations and intermolecular hydrogen bonding. In the low-temperature phase the SH...S hydrogen bonds dominate as compared to the weaker SH...O contacts, and at ambient temperature the situation is inverse. The transition from one phase to another goes via a series of states differing in conformations of the cysteine zwitterions and the intermolecular contacts of the thiol-group. Motions of different molecular fragments (NH 3 (+), CH 2, CH, SH) are activated at different temperatures. Structural strain on cooling involves several dynamic processes, such as a rigid rotation of the molecule in the lattice, a rigid rotation of the NH 3 group with respect to NH 3-CH bond, and the rotation of the thiol side chain resulting in the switching of S-H hydrogen bonding from one type to another. Different NH...O hydrogen bonds forming the framework in the L-cysteine crystal structure are distorted to a different extent, and this provokes the rotation of the -CH 2SH side chains within the cavities of this framework resulting in a change in the coordination from SH...O to SH...S at low temperatures. The results are interesting for understanding the polymorphism of molecular crystals and the factors determining their dynamics and structural instability, and also for biophysical chemistry, since the properties of the hydrogen bonded thiole-groups in biomolecules can be mimicked using L-cysteine in the crystalline state, variations in temperature and pressure serving as powerful tools, to modify the intramolecular conformations and the intermolecular hydrogen bonding.

The discovery of superconductivity at 260 K in hydrogen-rich compounds like LaH 10 re-invigorated the quest for room temperature superconductivity. Here, we report the temperature dependence of the upper critical fields μ 0 H c2 ( T ) of superconducting H 3 S under a record-high combination of applied pressures up to 160 GPa and fields up to 65 T. We find that H c2 ( T ) displays a linear dependence on temperature over an extended range as found in multigap or in strongly-coupled superconductors, thus deviating from conventional Werthamer, Helfand, and Hohenberg (WHH) formalism. The best fit of H c2 ( T ) to the WHH formalism yields negligible values for the Maki parameter α and the spin–orbit scattering constant λ SO . However, H c2 ( T ) is well-described by a model based on strong coupling superconductivity with a coupling constant λ ~ 2. We conclude that H 3 S behaves as a strong-coupled orbital-limited superconductor over the entire range of temperatures and fields used for our measurements.

In the last few years, the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, of hydrogen-rich compounds has increased dramatically, and is now approaching room temperature. However, the pressures at which these materials are stable exceed one million atmospheres and limit the number of available experimental probes - superconductivity has been primarily identified based on electrical transport measurements. Here, we report definitive evidence of the Meissner effect – a key feature of superconductivity – in H3S and LaH10. Furthermore, we have determined characteristic superconducting parameters: a lower critical field Hc1 of ∼1.9 and ∼1.0 T, and a London penetration depth λL of ∼13 and ∼21 nm in Im-3m-H3S and Fm-3m-LaH10, respectively. These compounds have low values of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter κ ∼7–14 and belong to the group of “moderate” type II superconductors.

Structural strain and a first-order phase transition in the crystalline DL-cysteine on cooling and on reverse heating were followed by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The transition is reversible and has a large hysteresis (over 100 K). The temperature at which the transition is observed depends strongly on the cooling/heating rate. The phase transition is accompanied by crystal fragmentation. The low-temperature phase could be obtained not only as a result of the solid-state transformation in situ as a polycrystalline sample (with strong preferred orientation, or without it, depending on the preparative technique), but also (using an original crystallization technique) as a single crystal of the quality suitable for structural analysis. For the first time, the crystal structure of the low-temperature phase was solved independently by powder and by single-crystal diffraction techniques. The spectral changes were correlated with the precise diffraction data on the intramolecular conformations and the intermolecular hydrogen bonding before and after the phase transition. The role of the distortion of the intermolecular hydrogen bonds and of the motions of the -CH(2)SH side chains in the phase transition is discussed in a comparison with the low-temperature phase transition in L-cysteine, which is of a different type and preserves the single crystals intact (Kolesov et al. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2008, 112 (40), 12827-12839).

A series of extended reversible phase transitions at approximately 0.1, 1.5, 2.0, and approximately 5 GPa was observed for the first time in the crystals of dl-cysteine by Raman spectroscopy. These are the first examples of the phase transitions induced by increasing pressure in the racemic crystal of an amino acid. In the crystals of the orthorhombic l-cysteine, a sequence of reversible structural changes in the pressure range between 1.1 and 3 GPa could be observed by Raman spectroscopy, instead of a single sharp phase transition at 1.9 GPa reported previously in ( Moggach, et al. Acta Crystallogr. 2006, B62, 296- 309 ). The role of the movements of the side -CH 2SH groups and of the changes in the hydrogen-bonding type in dl- and l-cysteine during the phase transitions with increasing pressure is discussed and compared with that on cooling down to 3 K.

In the present work, four solvates of furosemide with tetrahydrofuran S(THF), 1,4-dioxane S(DIOX), N,N-dimethylformamide S(DMF), and dimethylsulfoxide S(DMSO) were crystallized, the crystal structures were solved for S(THF), S(DIOX), and S(DMF). The existence of S(THF) and S(DMSO) was not reported before; for the previously known S(DIOX) and S(DMF), the crystal structures remained unsolved. The detailed structural analysis of furosemide containing crystal structures showed that the molecule of furosemide has a high conformational lability because of the rotations of the sulfamoyl and furanylmethylamino fragments. Some of the furosemide conformations were shown to be stabilized by the intramolecular N− H•••Cl hydrogen bond. Desolvation of the four solvates was studied by TG and X-ray diffraction and was shown to give different products depending on the precursor and particle size: the desolvation of powder of S(THF) and the large crystals of S(THF), S(DIOX), and S(DMF) gives Form-III of furosemide, whereas powders of S(DIOX), S(DMF), and S(DMSO) give Form-I.