CrystEngComm Blog

In this HOT article, scientists from Dublin, Ireland have directed their research towards integrating crystal structure analyses with computational (ab initio) modelling methods and exploring the influence and positional influence of different functional groups e.g. N/F/Cl/Br/I atoms, Me/OMe in semi-rigid drug-like molecules on inter- and intramolecular interactions, conformations and solid-state packing.

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Structural systematics and conformational analyses of a 3 × 3 isomer grid of nine N-(tolyl)pyridinecarboxamides and three chlorinated relatives
Pavle Mocilac and John F. Gallagher
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05169E

In this CrystEngComm Hot article, Co₃O₄ thin films are synthesised on MgO and MgAl₂O₄ single crystal substrates.

The authors manage to keep the growth temperature quite low while still obtaining high quality films, which will be particularly useful for device fabrication.

Read the full article to find out more about the low temperature deposition technique they used…

Strongly oriented Co3O4 thin films on MgO(100) and MgAl2O4(100) substrates by PE-CVD
Davide Barreca, Anjana Devi, Roland A. Fischer, Daniela Bekermann, Alberto Gasparotto, Marco Gavagnin, Chiara Maccato, Eugenio Tondello, Elza Bontempi, Laura E. Depero and Cinzia Sada
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05280B, Communication

In this CrystEngComm Hot article, Balachandran Jeyadevan and co-workers from the University of Shiga Prefecture, Japan make cubic-shaped standing Ni–Pt alloy nanoparticles via an alcohol reduction process.

These nanoparticles are particularly interesting because, rather unusually, they stand on their corners, instead of on a face. Jeyadevan believes this due to ‘the magnetic interaction between particles whose easy axis is in the [111] direction’.

Novel standing Ni–Pt alloy nanocubes
Jhon L. Cuya Huaman, Shunya Fukao, Kozo Shinoda and Balachandran Jeyadevan
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05241A, Communication

FREE TO READ until 13th May

Chinping Chen, Rongming Wang and colleagues have made perfect single crystals of MgBr₂, as part of their collaboration between Peking University and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Magnesium diboride is known for its good superconducting properties, and many forms of MgB2 have been made previously, but large single crystals are still extremely difficult to obtain. In this CrystEngComm Hot article, Chen and Wang use a hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition technique to obtain perfect crystals.

Read the full article to find out more about magnesium diboride single crystals…

Single-crystal MgB2 hexagonal microprisms via hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition
Weimeng Chen, Wei Liu, Chinping Chen, Rongming Wang and Qingrong Feng
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05272A, Communication

FREE TO READ until 13th May

In this HOT article, Chinese scientists describe the controlled synthesis of orderly NaLa(MoO₄)₂ shuttle-like architectures (nanorods composed of nanoparticles) composed of nanoparticles under hydrothermal conditions.  Ethylene glycol was used as the solvent which can decrease the reaction rate by forming ligand bonds with lanthanide ions and further control the final morphology of the product.  Eu³⁺ ion was chosen as a structural information probe to obtain more luminescent and phase structure information.

Read more for FREE until 12th May 2011 at:

Synthesis and luminescent properties of NaLa(MoO₄)₂:Eu³⁺ shuttle-like nanorods composed of nanoparticles
Mei Yang, Hongpeng You, Yongchao Jia, Hui Qiao, Ning Guo and Yanhua Song
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00822B

In this HOT article, Kitagawa and co-workers describe two isomorphic frameworks, [Zn(thdc)(dpNDI)]_n, based on 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylate (thdc) as the topology-directing ligand,  assembled from zinc ions and N,N‘-di(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide (dpNDI) as the electron-accepting ligand.  The unique connecting angle of thdc promotes the formation of either a 3D pillared-layer framework or an interdigitated 2D layer framework, which are originally synthesized with terephthalic acid or isophthalic acid, respectively.  In addition, these isomers show different charge-transfer interactions with electron-donating aromatic molecules because of their intrinsic porous structure determined by their topology.  Such a topological design of PCPs can be used in guest-selective sensor materials.

Read more for FREE until 12th May 2011 here:

Control of the charge-transfer interaction between a flexible porous coordination host and aromatic guests by framework isomerism
Yohei Takashima, Shuhei Furukawa and Susumu Kitagawa
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05201B

See also the tutorial review on coordination polymers by Kitagawa:

Dynamic porous properties of coordination polymers inspired by hydrogen bonds
Susumu Kitagawa and Kazuhiro Uemura
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2005, 34, 109-119
DOI:10.1039/B313997M

This CrystEngComm Hot article demonstrates the fabrication of metal nitride nanofibres by electrospinning and thermolysis in different atmospheres.

Xingbin Yan and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou make zinc titanate compounds, which are known for their wide application in roles as varied as paint pigments, gas sensors and catalysis.

In this paper they are making Zn₂TiO₄, which is an inverse spinel, and TiN nanofibers, but their method can be extended to other metal nitrides.

Read the full article to find out more about these nanofibers…

Fabrication of Zn2TiO4 and TiN nanofibers by pyrolysis of electrospun precursor fibers
Dongfei Sun, Xingbin Yan, Jiangtao Chen, Shengxue Yu, Litian Hu and Qunji Xue
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05033H, Paper

FREE TO READ until 14th May