CrystEngComm Blog

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

Three porous metal–organic frameworks based on an azobenzenetricarboxylate ligand: synthesis, structures, and magnetic properties 
Miao Meng, Di-Chang Zhong and Tong-Bu Lu 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05817G

Coordination assemblies of Co ii /Ni ii /Mn ii /Zn ii with 1,1′-biphenyl-2,2′-dicarboxylic acid and three positional isomeric ligands: structural diversity and properties 
Fu-Ping Huang, He-Dong Bian, Qing Yu, Jin-Lei Tian, Hong Liang, Shi-Ping Yan, Dai-Zheng Liao and Peng Cheng 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 6538-6548 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05562C

Post-deposition annealing control of phase and texture for the sputtered MoO3 films 
Wei-Che Chang, Xiaoding Qi, Jui-Chao Kuo, Shih-chin Lee, Sio-Kei Ng and Delphic Chen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5125-5132 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05214D  

One-pot self-assembly of flower-like Cu2S structures with near-infrared photoluminescent properties 
Na Li, Xiaoling Zhang, Shutang Chen, Wen Yang, Huaizhi Kang and Weihong Tan 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 6549-6554 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05603D  

Two azido-bridged copper(ii) coordination polymers with isonicotinate-N-oxide and picolinate-N-oxide acting as co-ligands 
Qian Gao, Ya-Bo Xie, Melissa Thorstad, Ji-Hong Sun, Yue Cui and Hong-Cai Zhou 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00914H  

Synthesis, structural characterization and properties of Ag(i)-complexes based on double-armed 1,3,4-oxadiazole bridging ligands 
Gui-Ge Hou, Yan Wu, Jian-Ping Ma and Yu-Bin Dong 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05718A 

Topological variability of Zn(ii) and Co(ii) 3D coordination polymers obtained through solvothermal in situ disulfide cleavage 
Yang Bu, Feilong Jiang, Shuquan Zhang, Jie Ma, Xingjun Li and Maochun Hong 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 6323-6326 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05592E  

A hydrogen bonded cocrystal with an unusual interweaving between the adjacent triple-helices 
Amit Delori and William Jones 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 6315-6318 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05534H  

Packing incentives and a reliable N–HN–pyridine synthon in co-crystallization of bipyridines with two agrochemical actives
Elisa Nauha, Erkki Kolehmainen and Maija Nissinen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 6531-6537 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05730H  

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  

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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2011 to Dan Shechtman from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel “for the discovery of quasicrystals”. His discovery of a ten-fold diffraction pattern from the rapidly cooled alloys of Al with 10—14 at. % Mn, Fe, or Cr in 1982 fundamentally altered how scientists conceive of solid matter. At first Shechtman didn’t believe the atoms in his crystal were packed in a pattern that could not be repeated, as aperiodicity was forbidden. However he realised that the image he saw in his electron microscope was correct and what he had learnt was wrong, standing by his very controversial discovery to the point of being asked to leave his research group.

In 1984, along with Ilan Blech, John Cahn, and Denias Gratia, Shechtman finally had the opportunity to publish his data, reporting a crystal with “long-range orientational order, but with icosahedral point group symmetry, which is inconsistent with lattice translations. Its diffraction spots are as sharp as those of crystals but cannot be indexed to any Bravais lattice”,¹ which would eventually be known as a quasicrystal. Through the application of Alan Mackay’s model for aperiodic diffraction patterns of atoms to Shechtman’s data by the physicists Paul Steinhardt and Dov Levine, it was discovered that Mackay’s theoretical tenfold symmetry actually existed in Shechtman’s diffraction pattern.² Today quasicrystals constitute an entire area of science by themselves, spanning chemistry, physics, materials science and mathematics.

These perfectly ordered materials that never repeat themselves are mostly produced artificially in laboratory environments. The 1st naturally occurring quasicrystals were recently discovered in the mineral icosahedrite (Al₆₃Cu₂₄Fe₁₃) from the Khatyrka River in Russia,³ and a Swedish company has also found quasicrystals in a certain form of steel. Whilst the idea of quasicrystals was completely novel, 2D aperiodic patterns had been identified in many old Arabic murals from the 13th century onwards, and also in Penrose tiles in the 1970s, where regular patterns never repeat themselves. By transcribing this aperiodicity to three dimensions, Shechtman instigated a paradigm shift in materials chemistry that forced scientists to reconsider their perception of the very nature of matter.

“the world was completely unprepared for the discovery of Dan Shechtman that such aperiodic beasts could actually exist also in solid matter.”

Sven Lidin  – Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry 2011

1. Metallic Phase with Long-Range Orientational Order and No Translational Symmetry
Dan Shechtman, Ilan Blech, Denias Gratias, and John W. Cahn
Phys. Rev. Lett., 1984, 53, 1951–1953
2. Quasicrystals: A New Class of Ordered Structures
Dov Levine and Paul J. Steinhardt
Phys. Rev. Lett., 1984, 53, 2477–2480
3. Icosahedrite, Al₆₃Cu₂₄Fe₁₃, the first natural quasicrystal
Luca Bindi, Paul J. Steinhardt, Nan Yao, and Peter J. Lu
Am. Mineral., 2011, 96, 928–931

The outside cover features research by Yang et al.  Highly symmetric polyhedral 50-facet Cu₂O homogeneous structures enclosed by 24 high-index {211} facets, and 8 low-index {111} facets, 6 low-index {100} facets and 12 low-index {110} facets have been synthesized via a facile seed-mediated solution phase route.

Read more for FREE about this seed-mediated solution phase route at:

Seed-mediated synthesis of polyhedral 50-facet Cu₂O architectures
Shaodong Sun, Dongchu Deng, Chuncai Kong, Yang Gao, Shengchun Yang, Xiaoping Song, Bingjun Ding and Zhimao Yang
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5993-5997
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05243H

The inside cover showcases work from Uehara, Maeda et al. featuring ZnS nanocrystals with an apparent triangular head.  The head figuration was not the frequently-reported pyramid, but rather a cone. This cone consisted of not only low energy planes but high Miller-index planes which would be regarded as active points for applications such as catalysis and doping.

Read more about these interesting cone shaped nanoparticles for FREE at:

Structural characterization of ZnS nanocrystals with a conic head using HR–TEM and HAADF tomography
Masato Uehara, Yusuke Nakamura, Satoshi Sasaki, Hiroyuki Nakamura and Hideaki Maeda
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5998-6001
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05168G