Author Archive

Hot Article: Modifying morphology with magnetism!

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Anne-Lise Daltin and colleagues show that high magnetic field can modify crystal morphology. Read their paper to discover how the influence of forces generated by the magnetic field effects the mechanism of Cu2O growth.

Read for FREE until the 20th January!

Morphology of magneto-electrodeposited Cu2O microcrystals 
Anne-Lise Daltin, Ahmed Addad, Patrick Baudart and Jean-Paul Chopart
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article  DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00691B, Paper

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Hot Article: a mechanochemical reaction as it happens!

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Lee Brammer and colleagues look at making crystalline copper compounds mechanochemically, examining both solid-solid and solid-gas systems. The solid-gas reaction was monitored in situ using synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and a specially designed gas-handling rig meaning that polymorphs formed during the reaction could be identified!

Synthesis and polymorphism of (4-ClpyH)2[CuCl4]: solid–gas and solid–solid reactions 
Iñigo J. Vitorica-Yrezabal, Rachel A. Sullivan, Stephen L. Purver, Caroline Curfs, Chiu C. Tang and Lee Brammer
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00628A, Paper

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Hot Article: Low-cost synthesis of semiconductor nanowires

In this CrystEngComm Hot article, Chengxin Wang and co-workers report the first direct and low-cost synthesis of SiC@Al2O3 core-shell epitaxial nanowires which may have huge potentials in optoelectronic devices.

Direct synthesis of novel SiC@Al2O3 core-shell epitaxial nanowires and field emission characteristics 
H. Cui, L. Gong, Y. Sun, G. Z. Yang, C. L. Liang, J. Chen and C. X. Wang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00435A

Available to read for FREE until the 16th December 2010.

Like this paper? – tell us why by posting a comment on this post!

 

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Hot Article: Water tapes in a crystal network

In their recent CrystEngComm Hot Article, Isao Azumaya and colleagues describe how they made a channel-shaped network in the crystalline state from a simple spherical aromatic amide. This channel incorporated water molecules which form a tape-like chain network. Read the article to discover more about these water tapes….

Crystal structure of spherical aromatic amide: pseudopolymorphs and formation of infinite water cluster in the channel structure 

Hyuma Masu, Yuko Sagara, Fumiaki Imabeppu, Hiroaki Takayanagi, Kosuke Katagiri, Masatoshi Kawahata, Masahide Tominaga, Hiroyuki Kagechika, Kentaro Yamaguchi and Isao Azumaya
CrystEngComm, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00301H

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HOT Article: achiral MOFs?

The formation of a near achiral metal-organic framework from the self assembly of chiral building blocks is investigated in this CrystEngComm Hot article.

MOF formation

Near achiral metal–organic frameworks from conformationally flexible homochiral ligands resulted by the preferential formation of pseudo-inversion center in asymmetric unit
Kyung Seok Jeong, Bo Hyung Lee, Qiaowei Li, Sang Beom Choi, Jaheon Kim and Nakcheol Jeong

CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00426J, Communication

READ FOR FREE until 1st December 2010

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Defining the Halogen Bond – IUPAC task group need your input!

How would you define a Halogen Bond?

CrystEngComm authors Pierangelo Metrangolo and Giuseppe Resnati are chairing an IUPAC task group looking at the classification of halogen bonds.

The task group’s objective is to give a modern definition of halogen bonding, which takes into account all current experimental and theoretical pieces of information on both gaseous and condensed halogen-bonded systems in chemical and biological systems.

The group intend the whole community of researchers dealing with the study and use of intermolecular interactions to be involved in this Project. A dedicated web-site has been set-up as a public discussion forum for consideration of public comments. The Project will be featured in major meetings relevant to related fields, in particular at the XXII General Assembly and Congress of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) to be held in Madrid, Spain, in 22–29 August 2011. In the second year of the Project, an international symposium open to the public will be organized, for consideration of public comments, presentation, and dissemination of results.

Just before the IUCr Madrid Congress, and a satellite event to it, an international workshop open to the public will be organized in Sigüenza, Guadalajara (August 20-21), for consideration of public comments, presentation, and dissemination of results. For more info contact the scientific secretariat serena.biella@polimi.it or gabriella.cavallo@polimi.it.

The group membership includes Professor Gautam Desiraju (Bangalore, India), founding Editorial Board member, and current Advisory Board member of CrystEngComm and Kari Rissanen (Jyväskylä, Finland), former Advisory Board member of CrystEngComm.

The task group need your input and so we invite you post a comment below to join the discussion and give us your opinion on the definition of a halogen bond.

Follow the links below to read CrystEngComm Highlights with a focus on halogen bonding:

Halogen bonded supramolecular complexes and networks
Kari Rissanen
CrystEngComm, 2008, 10, 1107-1113    DOI: 10.1039/B803329N

Combining metals with halogen bonds
Lee Brammer, Guillermo Mínguez Espallargas and Stefano Libri
CrystEngComm, 2008, 10, 1712-1727

Anion coordination and anion-templated assembly under halogen bonding control
Pierangelo Metrangolo, Tullio Pilati, Giancarlo Terraneo, Serena Biella and Giuseppe Resnati
CrystEngComm, 2009, 11, 1187-1196    DOI: 10.1039/B821300C

   

  

Or read a recent CrystEngComm interview with Task Group Chair Pierangelo Metrangolo here.

 

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November Crystal Clear: Nanoflower power

This month’s Crystal Clear is an eye-catching flower-like crystal. It’s nano size doesn’t stop it from rivalling nature’s chrysanthemums! The flowers are made from hexahedronal petals  of  (Ni3(PO4)2·8H2O) obtained from a simple template-free hydrothermal route.

The striking image is taken from an article in Issue 12 by Huaming Li and coworkers (Xiangtan University, China):

READ FOR FREE until the 30th of November

Controlled synthesis of nickel phosphate hexahedronal and flower-like architectures via a simple template-free hydrothermal route
Journal Article
Hui Wu, Yong Gao and Huaming Li
CrystEngComm, 2010, 12, 3607-3611

DOI: 10.1039/C002120B , Paper

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Interview: Keiichiro Ogawa talks to CrystEngComm

Keiichiro Ogawa talks to CrystEngComm about his love of opera and colours in organic crystals
 

Keiichiro Ogawa is a professor of chemistry at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan. His research is aimed at the understanding and control of the dynamic behaviour of organic compounds and other molecular assemblies in crystals. Keiichiro was awarded the Crystallographic Society Japan Award in 1997 and recently a Chemical Society of Japan Contribution Award in 2007. He is a member of the CrystEngComm Advisory Board. 

Why did you to become a scientist?

Having grown up in a family of three generations of scientists, I have wanted to be a scientist since boyhood. In particular, I was intrigued by science because it unravels the mysteries of the universe, and leads to technologies that contribute to our wellbeing.
 

What projects are you working on at the moment?

My group is working on solid-state reactions in organic crystals, particularly those related with color-changing phenomena, i.e., photochromism and thermochromism.
 

What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in your field?

Such a prediction is difficult but it will probably be the emergence of completely new methods for measuring these phenomena. If this happens it could provide totally a new insights into the world of matter, as brought about by the arrival of the analytical techniques in X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy.
 

How do you think crystal engineering will develop in the next five years?

As methodologies for detection of minor products are refined, organic solid state reaction mechanisms should become better understood. This will give us much a more comprehensive picture of what happens in a sequence of solid-state reactions.
 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?

The excitement of presenting new findings and/or interpretations to an appreciative and expert audience!  
 

 

What is the secret to a successful research group?

Good people and good projects are the most essential components for successful scientific research. I’ve been fortunate in having an excellent research colleague, very good students and some challenging research topics. 

What achievement are you most proud of?

I am particularly proud at having found that an apparent shortening of the central bond of stilbene-type molecules is caused by the torsional vibrations in crystals (K. Ogawa et al., JACS, 1992, 114, 1041). This finding led to the discovery of a more prominent molecular motion, i.e., pedal motion in crystals (J. Harada and K. Ogawa, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2009, 38, 2244.).
 

What advice would you give to a young scientist?

Young scientists must understand their principal research topic as deeply as possible, while being aware of the broader thrust of the field. The wider view can often provide insights into the subject you are most interested in. 

What would you do if you weren’t a scientist?

My hobby is opera singing and my dream would be to be a professional singer, though I know I don’t have sufficient talent to start this career. Music can move one’s heart instantly, even within a second. Science can also do this, though not so quickly as in music. The important thing for me is that they both give joy.
 

What is your favourite place to be?

If I must live and work in one place, it would definitely be Tokyo. I have lived in Tokyo since my birth and I find it a vibrant, safe, and beautiful city. I like to visit other places, particularly in foreign countries, but I always enjoy returning home.
 

More about Keiichiro on his webpage at the University of Tokyo. 

Read some of Keiichiro’s research in the following CrystEngComm articles: 

Crystalline-state conformational change of β-nitrostyrenes and its freezing at low temperature
Jun Harada, Mayuko Harakawa and Keiichiro Ogawa
CrystEngComm, 2009, 11, 638-642 DOI: 10.1039/B815869J
 
Single crystal cis–trans photoisomerizations of 2-(9-anthrylmethylene)-1-indanones
Jun Harada, Mayuko Harakawa, Shingo Sugiyama and Keiichiro Ogawa
CrystEngComm, 2009, 11, 1235-1239 DOI: 10.1039/B821900A
 
Conformational change of all-trans-1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene in two crystalline forms
Jun Harada, Mayuko Harakawa and Keiichiro Ogawa
CrystEngComm, 2008, 10, 1777-1781 DOI: 10.1039/B811220G
 

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Hot Article: Arty silca-coated nanocrystals

Ping Yang and co-workers from the University of Jinan, China have created SiO2-coated CdTe nanocrystal using

a controlled sol–gel reaction. Look at more images of these beautiful nanocrystals which show how science can be art and find out more about the research in this CrystEngComm Hot Article.

Ping Yang, Zhimin Yuan, Jie Yang, Aiyu Zhang, Yongqiang Cao, Qinghui Jiang, Ruixia Shi, Futian Liu and Xin Cheng
CrystEngComm, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00350F

READ FOR FREE! Until November 25th.

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HOT Article: A crystalline gas?

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Andrzej Katrusiak and colleagues discuss the isobaric freezing of 1,1,1-trichloroethane to yields crystals. These crystals could shed new light on the range of intermolecular interactions that are capable of controlling molecular re-orientation and arrangement.

Crystalline gas of 1,1,1-trichloroethane 
Maciej Bujak, Marcin Podsiadło and Andrzej Katrusiak

CrystEngComm, 2011,DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00493F

READ FOR FREE! Until 25th November.

 

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