CrystEngComm Blog

Designing coordination polymers with both lanthanide and transition metal centres is of great interest to the MOF community in terms of the often wierd and wonderful architectures that can be achieved as well as the properties that can be derived from these networks in such diverse areas as magnetism, luminescence, catalysis and molecular adsorption.

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Su et al. have synthesised four such coordination polymers with Ln–Cu (3d–4f) centres that show intriguing properties and structures, opening the door for other structures to be synthesised in the future.

Read for free until 22 nd March 2001 here.

3D lanthanide–transition-metal–organic frameworks constructed from tetranuclear {Ln4} SBUs and Cu centres with fsc net
Jing Xu, Weiping Su* and Maochun Hong
CrystEngComm, 2011,DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00800A, Paper

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Pal et al., describe a modified hydrothermal (MHT) reaction for the nucleation, growth and reversible dehydration of a well defined uranium oxide hydroxide hydrate species.

Shaping nano-/microcrystals using a ‘bottom-up’ method needs considerable attention.   This is important as the morphology, dimensionality and size of the material can have a effect on its physical and chemical properties.

Read for free until 22nd March 2011 and find out more about these different crystal morphologies here.

Interested in amazing crystal images?  Why not check out our Crystal Clear section.

Morphology controlled uranium oxide hydroxide hydrate for catalysis, luminescence and SERS studies
Mukul Pradhan, Sougata Sarkar, Arun Kumar Sinha, Mrinmoyee Basu and Tarasankar Pal*
CrystEngComm, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00666A, Paper

In their CrystEngComm Hot Article, Mike Hursthouse and colleagues from the University of Southampton, use a systematic approach to the study of crystal structure assembly in the aspirin family of molecules. Find out what they found by reading their paper:

Further crystal structures for the substituted aspirin family of molecules: the first aspirin carboxylate catemer and a detailed assessment of the subtle influences of weak intermolecular interactions
Michael B. Hursthouse, Riccardo Montis and Graham J. Tizzard
CrystEngComm, 2011,DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00838A, Paper

Photodimerization in the solid state is highly dependent on the relative position and orientation of the monomers. In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, the authors use CCDC records to investigate a number of anthracene derivatives to determine which will dimerise in the solid state when exposed to light. Find out how by reading the paper.

Photodimerization of anthracene derivatives in their neat solid state and in solid molecular compounds
I. Zouev, Den-Ke Cao, T. V. Sreevidya, M. Telzhensky, M. Botoshansky and M. Kaftory
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00739K, Paper

This article is part of a forthcoming themed issue entitled “Dynamic behaviour and reactivity in crystalline solids”. Look out for the issue when it is published in April. Find out more about CrystEngComm themed issues on our themed issue webpage.

Qing Peng and colleagues from Tsinghua University, Beijing have produced large-scale perpendicular assemblies of  wurtzite CuInS₂  nanorods purely by controlling the solvent evaporation rate.

Their findings will aid the development of “ink” techniques for producing thin-film solar cells.

The team synthesised a range of CuInS₂  nanocrystals of different shapes and sizes by reacting inorganic salts with dodecanethiol and controlling the Cu:In ratio or introducing other ligands into the reaction system.

Read more in this CrystEngComm Hot Article for FREE until 22nd March 2011

Controlled synthesis of wurtzite CuInS₂ nanocrystals and their side-by-side nanorod assemblies
Xiaotang Lu, Zhongbin Zhuang, Qing Peng and Yadong Li
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00451K, Paper

In this new CrystEngComm Hot Article, a team of Italian scientists led by M. Lucia Curri have demonstrated that monomodal or bimodal PbS nanocrystals can be produced in a single experiment.  The group were able to shed light on the mechanism of self organization in these assemblies with an aim to predict the the formation of the solid crystal phases.

It was found that the effect of several parameters, including solvent composition, nanocrystal concentration, size ratio of the two populations, strongly influenced the formation of the superlattice and the final geometry.

The ability in engineering nanocrystal building blocks is essential for designing novel architectured materials.

Find out more about this work here. FREE to read until 10th March 2011!

Self-organization of mono- and bi-modal PbS nanocrystal populations in superlattices
Michela Corricelli, Davide Altamura, Liberato De Caro, Antonella Guagliardi, Andrea Falqui, Alessandro Genovese, Angela Agostiano, Cinzia Giannini, Marinella Striccoli and M. Lucia Curri
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00874E

Robert W. Lancaster and colleagues from University College London, have investigated the phenomenon of ‘disappearing polymorphs’, using a 50 year old progesterone sample obtained from the University of Innsbruck archive.

Disappearing polymorphs are an unusual occurance, where a form that was previously considered to be stable and easy to make, suddenly becomes very difficult to obtain. The reasons for this are poorly understood, and here Lancaster looks into the case of the hormone progesterone, where the modern version suffers from a ‘disappearing polymorph’, which can be found in the 50 year old archived sample.

Read the full article for FREE to find out more.

Fifty-year old samples of progesterone demonstrate the complex role of synthetic impurities in stabilizing a metastable polymorph
Robert W. Lancaster, Lisa D. Harris and David Pearson
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00858C, Communication

In this CrystEngComm Hot article, Sunil Verma and co-workers have produced a large single crystal of lithium pnitrophenolate trihydrate, which can be used as a non-linear optical material.

Non-linear optical materials can be used in lasers, and organic NLO materials are particularly desirable because they have higher non-linearity and better laser damage resistance when compared to inorganic materials.

This article is significant because the authors have managed to grow a large size crystal, which is normally difficult due to the weakness of the van der Waals and hydrogen bonds holding the molecules together.

Read the full article to find out more about the slow cooling solution growth method used…

Solubility, crystal growth, morphology, crystalline perfection and optical homogeneity of lithium p-nitrophenolate trihydrate, a semiorganic NLO crystal
S. Dinakaran, Sunil Verma and S. Jerome Das
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00663G, Paper

READ FOR FREE until 3rd March 2011