Isotopically pure diamond C or 100% C. The isotopes of carbon can be separated in the form of carbon dioxide gas by cascaded chemical exchange reactions with amine carbamate. Such CO can be converted to methane and from there to isotopically pure synthetic diamonds. Isotopically enriched diamonds have been synthesized by application of chemical vapor deposition followed by high pressure. The C isotopically pure, (or in practice 15-fold enrichment of isotopic number, 12 over 13 for carbon) diamond gives a 50% higher thermal conductivity than the already high value of 900-2000 W/(m·K) for a normal diamond, which contains the natural isotopic mixture of
Synthetic diamond "nanocrystalline" and "microcrystalline" diamond, respectively. Synthetic diamond is the hardest known material, where hardness is defined as resistance to indentation. The hardness of synthetic diamond depends on its purity, crystalline perfection and orientation: hardness is higher for flawless, pure crystals oriented to the <nowiki>[</nowiki>111<nowiki>]</nowiki> direction (along the longest diagonal of the cubic diamond lattice). Nanocrystalline diamond produced through CVD diamond growth can have a hardness ranging from 30% to 75% of that of single crystal diamond, and the hardness can be controlled for specific applications. Some synthetic single-crystal diamonds and HPHT nanocrystalline diamonds (see hyperdiamond) are harder than any known