Pressure-induced reactivity in confined systems

High pressure chemical reactivity is an almost unexplored field of study, although it is very important for fundamental issues and novel material synthesis. In this framework, the investigation of the high pressure behaviour of ordinary matter under extreme confinement is an intriguing topic, due to the fact that this condition is very common in nature but far less experimentally studied. A deeper comprehension of the mechanisms ruling high pressure reactivity in confined systems would be a powerful tool to exploit in driving the synthesis of new appealing materials for several possible applications with specific and tunable characteristics. In this thesis, three different classes of materials have been studied: C/Si based nanocomposite materials (simple molecules polymerization inside synthetic, non catalytic zeolites), C-based nanostructured materials (and particularly simple molecules intercalation in Graphite Oxide, GO) and the reactive and structural behaviour of two different Phosphorous allotropes (polymeric P red and crystalline, layered P black).