Archive for September, 2011

Poster prizes at IUCr Congress 2011

Congratulations to Sajesh Thomas from Bangalore, India and Christophe Vande Velde based in Antwerp in Belgium, recent winners of the CrystEngComm poster prizes at the IUCr Congress in Madrid which took place from the 22-30 August this year.

The prizes were presented to Sajesh and Christophe by CrystEngComm Advisory Board member Catalina Ruiz Perez. The winners each received an RSC book, a subscription to CrystEngComm and a CrystEngComm poster prize certificate.

Sajesh’s poster was entitled ‘Observation of a Conserved ‘Selenium Bond Synthon’ Involving Se…O Interaction’ and Christophe presented a poster on ‘Non-centrosymmetric Molecules – Centrosymmetric Structure?’

I was  also in attendance at this busy  meeting packed with excellent posters and talks on a huge range of topics from the field of crystal engineering and crystallography. I had a fantastic time at this well organised congress and arrived back with some IUCr mugs to remind me of the conference!  CrystEngComm Webwriter Claire Murray was also in beautiful Madrid at the event so look out for her report on her congress experience – coming soon to the CrystEngComm blog……

Check out more recent conference news here

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Hot Article: Nanoparticles for the photodegradation of methyl orange

In this CrystEngComm Hot article Zhimao Yang and co-workers from Xi’an Jiaotong University make copper oxide nanostructures with copper nanoparticles grown on the {111} facets via  a one-pot method.

The nanostructures they produce demonstrate excellent photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methyl orange.

Read the full article for FREE to find out more…

Facet-selective growth of Cu–Cu2O heterogeneous architectures
Shaodong Sun, Chuncai Kong, Hongjun You, Xiaoping Song, Bingjun Ding and Zhimao Yang
CrystEngComm, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05743J

Keep up to date with the latest news and research in solid-state and crystalline materials: sign up to the CrystEngComm e-alert, check out our blog, and like us on Facebook .

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Top ten most accessed articles in August

This month sees the following articles in CrystEngComm that are in the top ten most accessed:-

An Fe-based MOF constructed from paddle-wheel and rod-shaped SBUs involved in situ generated acetate 
Yun-Wu Li, Jiong-Peng Zhao, Li-Fu Wang and Xian-He Bu 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05470H  

Structural analyses and luminescent properties of a series of lead(ii) metal–organic frameworks based on 2-sulfoterephthalate 
Yi-Xia Ren, Xiang-Jun Zheng and Lin-Pei Jin 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5915-5923 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05303E  

Coordination polymers based on a flexible bis(triazole) ligand and aromatic polycarboxylate anions: syntheses, topological structures and photoluminescent properties 
Yajuan Mu, Gang Han, Shuying Ji, Hongwei Hou and Yaoting Fan 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5943-5950 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05129F  

Synthesis, X-ray crystal structures and inclusion properties of a hydrogen-bonded coordination polymer [Ni(SCN)2(pppeH)2]·(guest) x 
Ryo Sekiya and Shin-ichi Nishikiori 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05566F  

Three three-dimensional anionic metal–organic frameworks with (4,8)-connected alb topology constructed from a semi-rigid ligand and polynuclear metal clusters 
Shengqun Su, Chao Qin, Shuyan Song, Zhiyong Guo, Ruiping Deng, Wan Chen, Xuezhi Song, Song Wang, Guanghua Li and Hongjie Zhang 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05149K

Oligomeric and polymeric organizations of potassium salts with compartmental Schiff-base complexes as ligands 
Maliheh Mousavi, Virginie Béreau, Jean-Pierre Costes, Carine Duhayon and Jean-Pascal Sutter 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5908-5914 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05127J

Structural phase transition due to the flexible supramolecule of (4-cyanomethylanilinium)([18]crown-6) in [Ni(dmit)2]- crystal 
Qiong Ye, Tomoyuki Akutagawa, Heng-Yun Ye, Tian Hang, Jia-Zhen Ge, Ren-Gen Xiong, Shin-ichiro Noro and Takayoshi Nakamura 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05581J

Facile synthesis of zinc(ii)-carboxylate coordination polymer particles and their luminescent, biocompatible and antibacterial properties 
Kuaibing Wang, Yuxin Yin, Chengying Li, Zhirong Geng and Zhilin Wang 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05705G  

Selective CO2 capture by a 3d–4d coordination polymer material with 1D channel 
Sheng-Li Huang and Guo-Xin Jin 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05474K 

Polyhedron-aggregated multi-facet Cu2O homogeneous structures 
Shaodong Sun, Heng Zhang, Xiaoping Song, Shuhua Liang, Chuncai Kong and Zhimao Yang 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05597F  

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to CrystEngComm? Then why not submit to us today  or alternatively email us  your suggestions.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

CrystEngComm Issue 19: Cover Artwork

The cover of CrystEngComm Issue 19 is a lovely image showing isoniazid on a back ground painting of African masks. We asked the author of the paper, Andreas Lemmerer, to tell us more about it…

‘So, the idea behind the cover all centres around the word mask, the idea to use African  Masks is because I am South African, and I liked to add an African flavour.

In our paper, we introduce two means on how to alter the hydrogen bonding functionality of the supramolecular reagent isoniazid. Firstly, we take a ketone (or aldehyde), and by reacting it with the amine part of the hydrazide group in a condensation reaction, we “modify” its hydrogen bonding potential. This is the covalent reaction that forms part of the “covalent assistance to supramolecular synthesis” concept mentioned in the title.

The modification basically involves replacing the two amine H atoms with a N=C. This can achieved quite easily using acetone, and that is shown on the left of the cover picture.

However, there is potential to further alter the hydrogen bonding, by using the steric size of larger ketones, such as benzophenone. In this case, the phenyl rings are arranged such that they prevent access to the remaining amide H atom on the now modified hydrazide function group. We call this “masking”, and is seen in the right co-crystal. So, in comparison to the acetone modified co-crystal, the amide forms a C(4) chain as amides like to do. Now, with the benzophenone modified isoniazid, this chain can not form anymore.

What makes this concept exciting is that the modification, and potential masking, is done in-situ during the co-crystallization process in a one-pot experiment.’

– Andreas Lemmerer

Visit Andreas’ website at http://wits.academia.edu/AndreasLemmerer

The image of the masks was painted by Kingsley C. Nwabia, visit the artist’s website at http://www.kaizarts.com/

Read the paper that the cover is based on…

Covalent assistance in supramolecular synthesis: in situ modification and masking of the hydrogen bonding functionality of the supramolecular reagent isoniazid in co-crystals
Andreas Lemmerer, Joel Bernstein and Volker Kahlenberg
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5692-5708

or check out the inside cover…

Green synthesis of rosettelike silver nanocrystals with textured surface topography and highly efficient SERS performances
Maofeng Zhang, Aiwu Zhao, Hongyan Guo, Dapeng Wang, Zibao Gan, Henghui Sun, Da Li and Ming Li
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5709-5717

Keep up to date with the latest news and research in solid-state and crystalline materials: sign up to the CrystEngComm e-alert, check out our blog, and like us on Facebook.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Satellite workshop on halogen bonding at IUCr 2011

Arijit Mukherjee receiving his CrystEngComm poster prize from Associate Editor Christer Aakeroy

CrystEngComm was delighted to sponsor a poster prize at a satellite meeting at IUCr 2011, ‘Categorizing Halogen Bonding and Other Noncovalent Interactions Involving Halogen Atoms’

The satellite meeting is part of an IUPAC project ‘attempting to give a modern definition of halogen bonding that is as inclusive as possible’, read more at their webpage: http://www.halogenbonding.eu/

The CrystEngComm poster prize was awarded to Arijit Mukherjee, who works in the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, for his poster on ‘Halogen Bonding in Some Trichlorophenols’

Read more articles on halogen bonding by experts in the field…

The fluorine atom as a halogen bond donor, viz. a positive site
Pierangelo Metrangolo, Jane S. Murray, Tullio Pilati, Peter Politzer, Giuseppe Resnati and Giancarlo Terraneo
CrystEngComm, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05554B

Solid-state synthesis of mixed trihalides via reversible absorption of dihalogens by non porous onium salts
Lorenzo Meazza, Javier Martí-Rujas, Giancarlo Terraneo, Chiara Castiglioni, Alberto Milani, Tullio Pilati, Pierangelo Metrangolo and Giuseppe Resnati
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4427-4435

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

September Crystal Clear: Silica Sunflowers

This month’s Crystal Clear shows a sunflower-like silica nanostructure made by chemical vapour deposition.

The image was created by Zhizhen Ye, Haiping He and colleagues at Zhejiang University from their work in a paper in Issue 19 of CrystEngComm.

Ye and He looked at the formation mechanism to better understand the unusual growth process observed and investigated the photoluminescent properties of the silica.

Read the full article for FREE to find out more…

Self-catalysis induced three-dimensional SiOx nanostructures
Luwei Sun, Haiping He, Chao Liu and Zhizhen Ye
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5807-5812

.

Keep up to date with the latest news and research in solid-state and crystalline materials: sign up to the CrystEngComm e-alert, check out our blog, and like us on Facebook.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Cleaning up our water – is m-BiVO4 the answer?

Scanning electron microscope images of the octahedral m-BiVO4 crystals prepared with SDBS (left), and schematic illustration of the crystal orientation of m-BiVO4 octahedron with specific facets (right)Water contamination by synthetic organic chemicals is a burgeoning global problem due to the difficult degradation of these materials. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) has been identified as promising photocatalyst for environmental applications because of its stability in water without altering the pH value. A very low band gap of 2.4 keV also means there is potential to activate BiVO4 by visible light. The formation of good crystals with few structural defects and preferred facets is essential to the optimisation of these processes.

Mandi Han and colleagues at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have synthesised octahedral single crystals of monoclinic bismuth vanadate (m-BiVO4) by hydrothermal methods. Reaction times, acid concentration and the addition of the surfactant sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate all influence the growth of good crystals. Electron microscope measurements reveal the uniform size of these octahedral single crystals and preferred {120} and {021} crystalline facets. The m-BiVO4 crystals exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance determined by the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. Future research will investigate the effect of different facets on photocatalysis performance.

Read the full paper to find out more…

Synthesis of mono-dispersed m-BiVO4 octahedral nano-crystals with enhanced visible light photocatalytic properties
Mandi Han, Xiaofeng Chen, Ting Sun, Ooi Kiang Tan and Man Siu Tse
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05539A

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Top ten most accessed articles in July

This month sees the following articles in CrystEngComm that are in the top ten most accessed:-

Assembling Anderson-type polyoxometalates with manganese(ii) in the presence of pyridylacrylic acid ligands: a 2D layer and two polymorphs Haiyan
An, Xuan Liu, Hao Chen, Zhengbo Han, Hua Zhang and Zhaofei Chen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5384-5393 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05391D  

a-Fe2O3 hierarchically hollow microspheres self-assembled with nanosheets: surfactant-free solvothermal synthesis, magnetic and photocatalytic properties 
Jing-San Xu and Ying-Jie Zhu 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5162-5169 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05252G   

Microporous metal–organic frameworks for acetylene storage and separation 
Zhangjing Zhang, Shengchang Xiang and Banglin Chen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13,  Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05437F    

Ligand-deprotonation induced structural diversity in a ternary CuII-triazole-tetracarboxylate self-assembly system: Synthesis, crystal structures, and magnetic behavior 
En-Cui Yang, Zhong-Yi Liu, Li-Na Zhao, You-Li Yang, Cui-Hua Zhang and Xiao-Jun Zhao 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5401-5408 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05396E  

Additive controlled crystallization 
Rui-Qi Song and Helmut Cölfen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 1249-1276 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00419G 
 
Cadmium(II) and zinc(II) metal–organic frameworks with anthracene-based dicarboxylic ligands: solvothermal synthesis, crystal structures, and luminescent properties 
Jun-Jie Wang, Tong-Liang Hu and Xian-He Bu
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5152-5161 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05287J  

Lanthanide, Y and Sc MOFs: where amazing crystal structures meet outstanding material properties 
Ángeles Monge, Felipe Gándara, Enrique Gutiérrez-Puebla and Natalia Snejko 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5031-5044 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00891E  

Temperature-dependent supramolecular isomerism in three zinc coordination polymers with pamoic acid and 1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-benzene 
Suna Wang, Yanqiang Peng, Xilian Wei, Qingfu Zhang, Daqi Wang, Jianmin Dou, Dacheng Li and Junfeng Bai 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5313-5316 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05463E  

Controlled synthesis of wurtzite CuInS2 nanocrystals and their side-by-side nanorod assemblies 
Xiaotang Lu, Zhongbin Zhuang, Qing Peng and Yadong Li 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4039-4045 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00451K  
 
A single-crystalline microporous coordination polymer with mixed parallel and diagonal interpenetrating α-Po networks 
Shuangbing Han, Zhenbo Ma, Yanhu Wei, Victor Ch. Kravtsov, Brian S. Luisi, Indrek Kulaots and Brian Moulton 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4838-4840 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05354J   

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to CrystEngComm? Then why not submit to us today or alternatively email us  your suggestions.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Hot Article: ZnO microwires

Hot Communication just published in CrystEngComm: Polarity-dependent homo-epitaxy on (0001)-Zn and (0001)-O surfaces of cleaved ZnO microwires was investigated by in situ growth in ESEM and DFT simulations.

Read this article for free until the 6th October!

 

 

Click here to access: In situ growth and density-functional-theory study of polarity-dependent homo-epitaxial ZnO microwires
Rui Zhu, Qing Zhao, Jun Xu, Banggui Liu, Jingyun Gao, Jingmin Zhang, Wenguang Zhu, Hongjun Xu, Yanghui Sun, Qiang Fu, Li Chen and Dapeng Yu
CrystEngComm, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05892D

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Book review: Proteins and crystals

Check out this Chemistry World review by Karen McLuskey of Crystals, x-rays and proteins. Comprehensive protein crystallography by Dennis Sherwood and Jon Cooper

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2011/March/Reviews/ProteinsAndCrystals.asp

A useful guide to the fundamentals of protein crystallography!

Other interesting articles:

Small temperature oscillations promote protein crystallization
Cecília Ferreira, Rosa Crespo, Pedro Miguel Martins, Luís Gales, Fernando Rocha and Ana Margarida Damas. CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 3051-3056

Crystal engineering: origins, early adventures and some current trends
John Meurig Thomas. CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4304-4306

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)