CrystEngComm Blog

In this CrystEngComm Hot article, scientists at Harbin Normal University, China, made ZnO nanoplates by introducing Al³⁺ to change the growth and thickness of the nanostructures. Their method is particularly interesting as they do not use a template or surfactant.

One-step hydrothermal synthesis and optical properties of aluminium doped ZnO hexagonal nanoplates on a zinc substrate
Jia Liu, Lingling Xu, Bo Wei, Wei Lv, Hong Gao and Xitian Zhang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00704H, Communication

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

For the first time, metal-organic nanotubes have been made using a hydrogen-bonding self-assembly approach.

Jianlin Han and Yi Pan and colleagues from Nanjing University, China, used specially designed ligands to control the hydrogen bonding, constructing 2D layered structures that self-assembled into nanotubes. Such materials are exciting for their potential for use as molecular capillaries and sieves, and for use in biological models.

This CrystEngComm Hot article is free to read for a limited period.

Hydrogen-bonding self-assembly of two dimensional (2D) layer structures generating metal–organic nanotubes
Hailong Sun, Haibo Mei, Guanghui An, Jianlin Han and Yi Pan
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00471E , Communication

READ FOR FREE until January

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.

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In this CrystEngComm Hot article highly uniform sodium rare-earth fluoride nanocrystals were found to  demonstrate red, green, and blue up-conversion luminescence.

Read more about how Qibin Yang and colleagues at Xiangtan University did it, and to discover the various pills, rods, spheres, tubes, and plate shaped crystals they created.

High uniformity and monodispersity of sodium rare-earth fluoride nanocrystals: controllable synthesis, shape evolution and optical properties
Songjun Zeng, Guozhong Ren, Changfu Xu and Qibin Yang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00325E , Paper

READ FOR FREE until 15th December 2010

Kraig E. Wheeler and co-workers at Eastern Illinois University have produced a rare example of  an engineered, chiral, bimolecular solid-state reaction.

Read more about these ‘fish hook’ shaped molecules being fashioned into supramolecular dimers in this CrystEngComm Hot article.

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Enantiocontrolled solid-state photodimerizations via a chiral sulfonamidecinnamic acid
Kraig A. Wheeler, Joshua D. Wiseman and Rebecca C. Grove
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00516A , Communication

This CrystEngComm Hot article demonstrates that chromatography can be used to look at the interaction between crystals and their impurities so that their impact on crystal growth can be judged.

Ryan E. Sours and colleagues looked at the biomineral crystals calcite and calcium oxolate monohydrate, and assessed the relative binding affinities of various organic impurities.

This manuscript is part of a themed issue on Crystal Growth, guest edited by Professor Jennifer Swift, due for publication early in 2011.

Chromatographic determination of impurity binding affinities on biomineral crystals
Randall C. Mazzarino, Tissa J. Thomas and Ryan E. Sours
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00454E , Paper

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

This CrystEngComm Hot article looks at the changes in the magnetic behaviour of Cu(II)-p-hydroquinoanate polymers that occur with structural modification and the loss of DMF ligands. These findings could lead to a new way of preparing novel spin lattices, adding a new tool to the crystal engineers toolbox.

Thermally induced crystal-to-crystal transformations accompanied by changes in the magnetic properties of a CuII-p-hydroquinonate polymer
Ngoc Hien Phan, Ivan Halasz, Ingo Opahle, Edith Alig, Lothar Fink, Jan W. Bats, Pham Thanh Cong, Hans-Wolfram Lerner, Biprajit Sarkar, Bernd Wolf, Harald O. Jeschke, Michael Lang, Roser Valentí, Robert Dinnebier and Matthias Wagner

CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00367K, Communication

FREE TO READ until 1st December 2010

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

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