CrystEngComm Tutorial Reviews were first commissioned in 2024 and are aimed at researchers who are new to the field or are embarking on a new direction of research, giving insight into how crystal engineering techniques underpin certain research areas.
They are focused on the application of crystal engineering techniques and should be comprehensive enough to be used for teaching purposes. They comment on best practice techniques for a given research methodology and how understanding crystal engineering can best serve researchers’ progress on a given topic.
Each Tutorial Review includes up to five ‘key learning points’ that a reader should expect to gain from reading the review.
See our most recent Tutorial Review by Atiqur Rahman, John C. McMurtrie, Sajesh P. Thomas and Jack K. Clegg
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Identifying and characterising flexible crystals Atiqur Rahman, John C. McMurtrie, Sajesh P. Thomas and Jack K. Clegg CrystEngComm, 2025, 27, 7110-7120 |
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Key learning points in this Tutorial review:
1. Molecular crystals undergo two types of mechanical deformation—elastic (reversible) and plastic (irreversible)—each led by different structural features and intermolecular interactions.
2. Elastic flexibility is often driven by anisotropic interaction topologies and reversible molecular reorientations, whereas plasticity is facilitated by low-energy slip systems (often slip planes).
3. μ-XRD and μ-Raman mapping provide insight into structural changes and local internal stress distribution across the elastically bent crystals.
4. Mechanical deformation affects a range of material properties, including fluorescence, conductivity, and thermal behaviour, highlighting the multifunctionality of flexible crystals.
5. Classical models like Euler–Bernoulli theory are limited due to anisotropic and inhomogeneous deformations in crystals
6. Flexible molecular crystals are promising for next-gen technologies such as piezoelectric actuators and reconfigurable waveguides.
Meet the authors
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Professor Jack K. Clegg studied Chemistry, History and German graduating with a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (Honours) and a University Medal from the University of Sydney. He went on to complete a PhD in Chemistry (2008) and a Bachelor of Laws (2009) from the same institution graduating with the Convocation Medal. After completing his studies he won a Marie Curie Fellowship to conduct research at the University of Cambridge. Jack returned to Australia to join The University of Queensland in 2012. In 2018 Jack was awarded the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year. |
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Sajesh P. Thomas earned his MSc in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam and his Bachelor’s degree from Kasaragod Government College, Kerala. He completed his PhD in 2014 from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, under the guidance of Prof. T. N. Guru Row, focusing on charge density and crystal engineering studies of pharmaceutical solids. Following his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Mark A. Spackman at the University of Western Australia, Perth, and later held a Marie-Curie fellowship with Prof. Bo B. Iversen at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, where he leads Materials and Quantum Crystallography Lab (MQCL). His research interests include quantum crystallography and crystal engineering of pharmaceutical solids and soft piezoelectric materials. |
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Professor John C. McMurtrie completed his BSc (Hons) at Macquarie University before moving to The University of New South Wales for his doctoral. He then completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Sydney (2003–2004). John was appointed Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at Queensland University of Technology in 2004 where he remains, now as a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. |
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Atiqur Rahman received his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi and his MSc in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He is currently pursuing a joint PhD at IIT Delhi and The University of Queensland under the supervision of Professor Sajesh P. Thomas and Professor Jack K. Clegg. His doctoral research focuses on the structural origins of mechanical flexibility and piezoelectricity in molecular crystals, with an emphasis on structural perturbations induced by bending and high-pressure conditions, employing synchrotron-based micro-focused X-ray diffraction and high-pressure crystallographic techniques. |
Tutorial Reviews are normally invited by the Editorial Board, however suggestions are welcome and enquiries, along with a brief synopsis and author credentials, should be directed to the Editors-in-Chief at CrystEngComm-rsc@rsc.org. Readers may nominate themselves, or others, to write a Tutorial Review.
We hope you enjoy reading this Tutorial review* and if you haven’t already seen them please do read the previous tutorial reviews in our series: Useful practices in single crystal diffraction analysis of reticular structures by Stefano Canossa and The impact of crystal habit on the pharmaceutical properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients by Dinesh Kumar et al.
*Free to access until December 31st 2025.
Christian Doonan is a Professor of Chemistry and a South Australian Government Future Industry Making Fellow at the University of Adelaide. He received his PhD at the University of Melbourne and carried out post-doctoral work with Professor Omar Yaghi at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research group focuses on the design and synthesis of Metal-organic Framework materials for application to biotechnology and catalysis.Christian is a member of the international MOF commission and his research has been recognised through several awards including, an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship and a distinguished lectureship award from the Chemical Society of Japan.
