CrystEngComm Blog

This month sees the following articles in CrystEngComm that are in the top ten most accessed:-

An Fe-based MOF constructed from paddle-wheel and rod-shaped SBUs involved in situ generated acetate 
Yun-Wu Li, Jiong-Peng Zhao, Li-Fu Wang and Xian-He Bu 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05470H  

Structural analyses and luminescent properties of a series of lead(ii) metal–organic frameworks based on 2-sulfoterephthalate 
Yi-Xia Ren, Xiang-Jun Zheng and Lin-Pei Jin 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5915-5923 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05303E  

Coordination polymers based on a flexible bis(triazole) ligand and aromatic polycarboxylate anions: syntheses, topological structures and photoluminescent properties 
Yajuan Mu, Gang Han, Shuying Ji, Hongwei Hou and Yaoting Fan 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5943-5950 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05129F  

Synthesis, X-ray crystal structures and inclusion properties of a hydrogen-bonded coordination polymer [Ni(SCN)2(pppeH)2]·(guest) x 
Ryo Sekiya and Shin-ichi Nishikiori 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05566F  

Three three-dimensional anionic metal–organic frameworks with (4,8)-connected alb topology constructed from a semi-rigid ligand and polynuclear metal clusters 
Shengqun Su, Chao Qin, Shuyan Song, Zhiyong Guo, Ruiping Deng, Wan Chen, Xuezhi Song, Song Wang, Guanghua Li and Hongjie Zhang 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05149K

Oligomeric and polymeric organizations of potassium salts with compartmental Schiff-base complexes as ligands 
Maliheh Mousavi, Virginie Béreau, Jean-Pierre Costes, Carine Duhayon and Jean-Pascal Sutter 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5908-5914 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05127J

Structural phase transition due to the flexible supramolecule of (4-cyanomethylanilinium)([18]crown-6) in [Ni(dmit)2]- crystal 
Qiong Ye, Tomoyuki Akutagawa, Heng-Yun Ye, Tian Hang, Jia-Zhen Ge, Ren-Gen Xiong, Shin-ichiro Noro and Takayoshi Nakamura 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05581J

Facile synthesis of zinc(ii)-carboxylate coordination polymer particles and their luminescent, biocompatible and antibacterial properties 
Kuaibing Wang, Yuxin Yin, Chengying Li, Zhirong Geng and Zhilin Wang 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05705G  

Selective CO2 capture by a 3d–4d coordination polymer material with 1D channel 
Sheng-Li Huang and Guo-Xin Jin 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05474K 

Polyhedron-aggregated multi-facet Cu2O homogeneous structures 
Shaodong Sun, Heng Zhang, Xiaoping Song, Shuhua Liang, Chuncai Kong and Zhimao Yang 
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05597F  

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to CrystEngComm? Then why not submit to us today  or alternatively email us  your suggestions.

The cover of CrystEngComm Issue 19 is a lovely image showing isoniazid on a back ground painting of African masks. We asked the author of the paper, Andreas Lemmerer, to tell us more about it…

‘So, the idea behind the cover all centres around the word mask, the idea to use African  Masks is because I am South African, and I liked to add an African flavour.

In our paper, we introduce two means on how to alter the hydrogen bonding functionality of the supramolecular reagent isoniazid. Firstly, we take a ketone (or aldehyde), and by reacting it with the amine part of the hydrazide group in a condensation reaction, we “modify” its hydrogen bonding potential. This is the covalent reaction that forms part of the “covalent assistance to supramolecular synthesis” concept mentioned in the title.

The modification basically involves replacing the two amine H atoms with a N=C. This can achieved quite easily using acetone, and that is shown on the left of the cover picture.

However, there is potential to further alter the hydrogen bonding, by using the steric size of larger ketones, such as benzophenone. In this case, the phenyl rings are arranged such that they prevent access to the remaining amide H atom on the now modified hydrazide function group. We call this “masking”, and is seen in the right co-crystal. So, in comparison to the acetone modified co-crystal, the amide forms a C(4) chain as amides like to do. Now, with the benzophenone modified isoniazid, this chain can not form anymore.

What makes this concept exciting is that the modification, and potential masking, is done in-situ during the co-crystallization process in a one-pot experiment.’

– Andreas Lemmerer

Visit Andreas’ website at http://wits.academia.edu/AndreasLemmerer

The image of the masks was painted by Kingsley C. Nwabia, visit the artist’s website at http://www.kaizarts.com/

Read the paper that the cover is based on…

Covalent assistance in supramolecular synthesis: in situ modification and masking of the hydrogen bonding functionality of the supramolecular reagent isoniazid in co-crystals
Andreas Lemmerer, Joel Bernstein and Volker Kahlenberg
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5692-5708

or check out the inside cover…

Green synthesis of rosettelike silver nanocrystals with textured surface topography and highly efficient SERS performances
Maofeng Zhang, Aiwu Zhao, Hongyan Guo, Dapeng Wang, Zibao Gan, Henghui Sun, Da Li and Ming Li
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5709-5717

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This month sees the following articles in CrystEngComm that are in the top ten most accessed:-

Assembling Anderson-type polyoxometalates with manganese(ii) in the presence of pyridylacrylic acid ligands: a 2D layer and two polymorphs Haiyan
An, Xuan Liu, Hao Chen, Zhengbo Han, Hua Zhang and Zhaofei Chen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5384-5393 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05391D  

a-Fe2O3 hierarchically hollow microspheres self-assembled with nanosheets: surfactant-free solvothermal synthesis, magnetic and photocatalytic properties 
Jing-San Xu and Ying-Jie Zhu 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5162-5169 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05252G   

Microporous metal–organic frameworks for acetylene storage and separation 
Zhangjing Zhang, Shengchang Xiang and Banglin Chen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13,  Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05437F    

Ligand-deprotonation induced structural diversity in a ternary CuII-triazole-tetracarboxylate self-assembly system: Synthesis, crystal structures, and magnetic behavior 
En-Cui Yang, Zhong-Yi Liu, Li-Na Zhao, You-Li Yang, Cui-Hua Zhang and Xiao-Jun Zhao 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5401-5408 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05396E  

Additive controlled crystallization 
Rui-Qi Song and Helmut Cölfen 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 1249-1276 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00419G 
 
Cadmium(II) and zinc(II) metal–organic frameworks with anthracene-based dicarboxylic ligands: solvothermal synthesis, crystal structures, and luminescent properties 
Jun-Jie Wang, Tong-Liang Hu and Xian-He Bu
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5152-5161 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05287J  

Lanthanide, Y and Sc MOFs: where amazing crystal structures meet outstanding material properties 
Ángeles Monge, Felipe Gándara, Enrique Gutiérrez-Puebla and Natalia Snejko 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5031-5044 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00891E  

Temperature-dependent supramolecular isomerism in three zinc coordination polymers with pamoic acid and 1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-benzene 
Suna Wang, Yanqiang Peng, Xilian Wei, Qingfu Zhang, Daqi Wang, Jianmin Dou, Dacheng Li and Junfeng Bai 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5313-5316 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05463E  

Controlled synthesis of wurtzite CuInS2 nanocrystals and their side-by-side nanorod assemblies 
Xiaotang Lu, Zhongbin Zhuang, Qing Peng and Yadong Li 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4039-4045 DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00451K  
 
A single-crystalline microporous coordination polymer with mixed parallel and diagonal interpenetrating α-Po networks 
Shuangbing Han, Zhenbo Ma, Yanhu Wei, Victor Ch. Kravtsov, Brian S. Luisi, Indrek Kulaots and Brian Moulton 
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4838-4840 DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05354J   

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

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A CrystEngComm article by Ben Zhong Tang and colleagues has been highlighted in the weekly ACS  Noteworthy Chemistry section:

Aggregated “simple” luminogens emit bright red light

Read the full original research paper…

Aggregation-induced emission enhancement materials with large red shifts and their self-assembled crystal microstructures
Qing Dai, Weimin Liu, Lintao Zeng, Chun-Sing Lee, Jiasheng Wu and Pengfei Wang
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 4617-4624

Issue 17 of CrystEngComm is now online, with a brilliant cover from Sarbajit Banerjee from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The image shows their star-shaped vanadium oxide nanocrystals, which in this paper they make via a new seeded growth strategy. Their technique is particularly impressive because of the well-defined morphologies of their crystals. Banerjee writes ‘[our results]…suggest a generalizable approach for using the intrinsic crystal symmetry of one phase to control the crystal growth of a second related phase under solvothermal conditions’

Read the full article to find out more, and to see their pretty crystals!…

A VO-seeded approach for the growth of star-shaped VO2 and V2O5 nanocrystals: facile synthesis, structural characterization, and elucidation of electronic structure
Luisa Whittaker, Jesus M. Velazquez and Sarbajit Banerjee
CrystEngComm, 2011, 13, 5328-533

Interested in Dr Banerjee’s research? Visit his webpage at the University at Buffalo…