Author Archive

Hot Article: Self-assembly of melem on silver

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Johanna Eichhorn and colleagues from Munich, Germany study the self-assembly of melem on Ag(111) surface using scanning tunnelling microscopy.

They observe seven different monolayer polymorphs stabilized by intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Porous surface-supported supramolecular monolayers have potential applications as host networks for the inclusion of guests or even as organic templates for the growth of size-selected metal nanoparticles.

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Self-assembly of melem on Ag(111)—emergence of porous structures based on amino-heptazine hydrogen bonds
Johanna Eichhorn, Stefan Schlögl, Bettina V. Lotsch, Wolfgang Schnick, Wolfgang M. Heckl and Markus Lackinger
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05342F, Paper

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Hot Article: 2D self-assembly of a hexapod


In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Steven De Feyter, Albertus Schenning and colleagues investigate how molecular chirality can be expressed at the supramolecular level during 2D self-assembly.

They studied the formation of a chiral monolayer of a substituted hexaarylbenzene with 24 stereogenic centres at the interface between a liquid and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. When both enantiomers are co-adsorbed on the surface, a racemic conglomerate is formed.

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A multivalent hexapod having 24 stereogenic centers: chirality and conformational dynamics in homochiral and heterochiral systems
Hong Xu, Martin Wolffs, Željko Tomović, E. W. Meijer, Albertus P. H. J. Schenning and Steven De Feyter
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05433C, Paper

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Hot Article: Green synthesis of PbS nanocrystals

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Hongzheng Chen and colleagues synthesized uniform PbS nanocrystals using a surfactant-free electrodeposition method.

They investigated the effect of the concentration of Cl ions, deposition time and applied deposition current in tuning the morphology of the crystals.

The authors believe the method could be extended to the shape-controlled synthesis of other semiconductor crystals, especially metal sulfides.

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Morphology evolution route of PbS crystals via environment-friendly electrochemical deposition
Weiming Qiu, Mingsheng Xu, Fei Chen, Xi Yang, Yaxiong Nan and Hongzheng Chen
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05225J, Paper

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Hot Article: Polyhedral 50-facet cuprous oxide crystals

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Shaodong Sun et al. prepared polyhedral 50-facet cuprous oxide crystals with high-index planes using a seed-mediated solution phase route.

Cuprous oxide is a p-type semiconductor with potential applications including solar energy conversion, catalysis, gas sensors and lithium-ion batteries.

The authors studied the growth mechanism of the crystals, which will aid the design and synthesis of new polyhedral cuprous oxide architectures.

They also studied the photocatalytic activity of the crystals in the degradation of Methyl Orange dye. The crystals with high-index facets exhibited higher catalytic activity than crystals with low-index facets.

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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, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05243H, Communication

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Hot Article: Bridge to chiral recognition

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Akio Ichikawa and colleagues from Tsukuba and Nara, Japan, report that a methoxy-assisted salt bridge is important for chiral recognition in the crystalline diastereomeric salts prepared from (R)- and (S)-2-methoxy-2-(1-naphthyl)propanoic acid with (R)-1-phenylethylamine.

The authors predict that the findings will be useful in the crystal engineering of 2-aryl-2-methoxypropanoic acid derivatives for the development of single-enantiomer biofunctional molecules, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.

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Crystal structures and chiral recognition of the diastereomeric salts prepared from 2-methoxy-2-(1-naphthyl)propanoic acid
Akio Ichikawa, Hiroshi Ono, Takuya Echigo and Yuji Mikata
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05155E, Paper

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CrystEngComm Issue 10

CrystEngComm issue 10 is now available.

The outside front cover features work by Anne-Lise Daltin and colleagues on the effect of a high magnetic field on the morphology of cuprous oxide crystals during electrocrystallization.

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Morphology of magneto-electrodeposited Cu2O microcrystals
Anne-Lise Daltin, Ahmed Addad, Patrick Baudart and Jean-Paul Chopart
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 3373-3377
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00691B


The inside cover article is by Yaming Zhou and colleagues of Fudan University, China on the synthesis of a new porous zinc phosphonocarboxylate MOF.

For more details see:
Two-step synthesis, structure and adsorption property of a dynamic zinc phosphonocarboxylate framework Zhenxia Chen, Yun Ling, Haiyang Yang, Yufen Guo, Linhong Weng and Yaming Zhou
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 3378-3382
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00687D

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CrystEngComm issue 8


Check out CrystEngComm issue 8 available online now.

The outside cover article is a Communication by Johan Urbanus and colleagues on the combination of electrochemistry and co-crystallization to facilitate in situ product removal of carboxylic acids.

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Electrochemically induced co-crystallization for product removal
Johan Urbanus, C. P. Mark Roelands, Jaroslaw Mazurek, Dirk Verdoes and Joop H. ter Horst
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 2817-2819
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00284D, Communication

The inside cover features research by Minori Taguchi and colleagues from Tsukuba and Tohoku Universities on the synthesis of polymer-modified CeO2 nanoparticles using supercritical water as the reaction medium.

For more details read:
Supercritical hydrothermal synthesis of hydrophilic polymer-modified water-dispersible CeO2 nanoparticles
Minori Taguchi, Seiichi Takami, Tadafumi Adschiri, Takayuki Nakane, Koichi Sato and Takashi Naka
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 2841-2848
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00467G

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Hot Article: Can a computer crystallize a liquid?

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Angelo Gavezzotti from the University of Milan has developed a new algorithm to simulate the processes that lead from an isotropic liquid to a crystal structure.

The procedure was applied to the transformation of n-hexane from a liquid to a solid and the structure generated was very similar to the real crystal structure.

It is currently very difficult to experimentally monitor the early stages of molecular recognition and aggregation in a liquid that lead to the nucleation of crystals of organic molecules.

This simulation will provide new insight into the process of molecular crystallization.

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Can a computer crystallize a liquid? Molecular simulation of continuous trajectories from liquid to crystalline n-hexane
Angelo Gavezzotti
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05106G, Paper

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Hot Article: Twinning nanostructures

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Chinese scientists have prepared complex indium- and gallium-doped zinc oxide nanostructures with twin boundaries.

Three-edged nanobelts and hexagonal-disk strings were fabricated using a thermal evaporation method. Despite their differences in morphology they have the same twin boundaries, which the authors explain by introducing a twin core.

Understanding the growth of these nanostructures opens up the potential for assembling nanoscale building blocks into sophisticated structures.

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Group III element-doped ZnO twinning nanostructures
L. L. Wu, F. W. Liu and X. T. Zhang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05088E, Paper

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Hot Article: Mesoporous zeolite by desilication

Javier Pérez-Ramírez and colleagues have prepared mesoporous ZSM-22 zeolite by controlled silicon extraction in aqueous sodium hydroxide.

The generation of auxiliary mesoporosity has implications for the catalytic applications of this zeolite.

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Mesoporous ZSM-22 zeolite obtained by desilication: peculiarities associated with crystal morphology and aluminium distribution
Danny Verboekend, André M. Chabaneix, Karine Thomas, Jean-Pierre Gilson and Javier Pérez-Ramírez
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00966K, Paper

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