CrystEngComm Blog

Conference Report: 2nd China-India-Singapore Symposium on Crystal Engineering

13 Mar 2013

Dr Tejender Thakur (CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, India) reports on November’s China-India-Singapore Symposium in Crystal Engineering, held in Guanzhou, China.

The China-India-Singapore symposium series on “Crystal Engineering” was conceived with the idea to bring together researchers working in the field of crystal engineering from the countries China, India, and Singapore. This symposium series was aimed to discuss and acknowledge recent advances in the field of crystal engineering happening in the south Asian region.

The first China-India-Singapore Symposium on Crystal Engineering (CISSCE) was held at National University of Singapore (NUS) from 30^th July – 2^nd August, 2010. The 2nd China-India-Singapore Symposium on Crystal Engineering was recently held at Guangzhou, China during 20^th – 23^rd November 2012. A total of 37 researchers from China, India and Singapore presented their work highlighting recent deveopments in the fields of organic, bioorganic, metal organic hybrid (metal complexes and coordination polymers), pharmaceutical and organic-semiconductor materials achieved through the applications of crystal engineering.

This report is an attempt to provide the reader with a glimpse of some of the recent research work undergoing in various laboratories in China, India and Singapore in the field of crystal engineering that was discussed in the symposium.

Download Dr Tejender Thakur’s full report here.

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Nanocubic silver gives enhanced SERS effect

08 Mar 2013

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

In this HOT article, Shengchun Yang and co-workers describe the preparation of porous Ag nanocubes by synthesizing Ag₃PO₄ nanocubes and using them as hard templates. With the addition of strong reducing agents, Ag is reduced in situ to form porous Ag. The resulting Ag showed good SERS (surface enhanced Raman scattering) properties by detecting nanomolar concentrations of Rhodamine 6G.

Volume shrinkage induced formation of porous Ag sub-microcubes via solid–liquid reaction for SERS

Find out more by downloading the full paper now:

Volume shrinkage induced formation of porous Ag sub-microcubes via solid–liquid reaction for SERS
Xiao Luo, Shaomin Lian, Liqun Wang, Shengchun Yang, Zhimao Yang, Bingjun Ding and Xiaoping Song
CrystEngComm, 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CE27089K

You may also be interested in other publications concerning SERS and noble metals from recent studies by the same author:

A new route for the synthesis of polyhedral gold mesocages and shape effect in single-particle surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
Jixiang Fang, Sergei Lebedkin, Shengchun Yang and Horst Hahn
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 5157-5159
DOI: 10.1039/C1CC10328H

Interface synthesis of gold mesocrystals with highly roughened surfaces for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
Hongjun You, Yuetian Ji, Liang Wang, Shengchun Yang, Zhimao Yang, Jixiang Fang, Xiaoping Song and Bingjun Ding
J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 1998-2006
DOI: 10.1039/C1JM13211C, Paper

Also, keep up to date and follow us on twitter: @crystengcomm

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Modelling metastable zone width

26 Feb 2013

By Jennifer Newton, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

Noriaki Kubota and colleagues have modelled the effects of sensitivity and resolution of a nucleation detector on metastable zone width.

The metastable zone width has been somewhat ambiguously defined as “the supercooling at which the first crystals or uncontrolled spontaneous crystallisation is detected when the solution temperature is lowered at a constant rate”. In order to pin down the specifics, a couple of groups have defined the metastable zone width as the supercooling that occurs when the number density of crystals reaches a fixed value – which in effect is determined by the sensitivity of the detection method.

To find out what effect the sensitivity and resolution of a detector has on metastable zone width readings, the team have employed analytical and numerical methods. A deeper understanding of this is neccesary to enable better control of crystallisation processes.

Download the article today to find out more…

Analytical and numerical study of detector sensitivity and resolution effects on metastable zone width
Noriaki Kubota, Masanori Kobari and Izumi Hirasawa
CrystEngComm, 2013, 15, 2091-2098
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE26968F, Paper

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Printing crystalline drugs

12 Feb 2013

By Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant.

A group of UK chemists has used a desktop inkjet printer to prepare a metastable form of the anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine. Co-crystals have been prepared by first depositing very small droplets of template solution followed by droplets of the drug solution, which leads to rapid evaporation and crystallisation. Simon Gaisford of UCL School of Pharmacy, London, who lead the project, told Chemistry World that this polymorph has only been produced previously by layering it molecule by molecule onto a template crystal using vapour deposition.

‘Desktop inkjet printers offer amazing control of droplet position in order to produce photographic images,’ says Gaisford. ‘So in this instance the technology can really be considered to be more advanced than is needed for crystal templating, although it is evident that the smaller the droplet size and printing resolution the better the potential of the technique.’

To read more on this story, please visit Chemistry World. The research article can be accessed below:

Rapid preparation of pharmaceutical co-crystals with thermal ink-jet printing
Asma B. M. Buanz, Richard Telford, Ian J. Scowen and Simon Gaisford
CrystEngComm, 2013,15, 1031-1035
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE26519B

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Halogen bonding: competitive and directional?

08 Feb 2013

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

: Hydrogen versus halogen bonding in the solid state

The Gamez group have analyzed halogen–π interactions by a statistical study of the occurrence and directionality of the interactions in the solid-state. They used structures from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) in combination with an analytical procedure developed and used previously by the authors for other important interactions like lone pair–π and anion–π interactions. The results clearly demonstrate that halogen bonding to a phenyl ring are directional, and could compete with hydrogen bonding. Read more about competition and directionality in the solid state for FREE at:

Halogen-phenyl supramolecular interactions in the solid state: hydrogen versus halogen bonding and directionality
Tiddo J. Mooibroek and Patrick Gamez
CrystEngComm, 2013, 15, 1802-1805
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE26853A

Other related reading from the same group includes:

Anion–arene and lone pair–arene interactions are directional
Tiddo J. Mooibroek and Patrick Gamez
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 1027-1030
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05946G

How directional are D–H phenyl interactions in the solid state (D = C, N, O)?
Tiddo J. Mooibroek and Patrick Gamez
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 8462-8467
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE26205C

Acid-terminated hybrid POMs

06 Feb 2013

By Jennifer Newton, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

Using linear, rather than cyclic, anhydrides was key to synthesising the carboxylic acid functionalised hybrid polyoxometalates

Leroy Cronin and colleagues at the University of Glasgow report a high yield synthesis of carboxylic acid functionalised clusters by reacting Mn-Anderson hybrid polyoxometalates, substituted by an amine group, with anhydride precursors. The terminal acid groups make it possible for the clusters to bind to hydrophilic glass surfaces. Developing understanding of the surface interactions of these hybrids may have potential implications in the development of hybrid based thin films for solar cells.

Download the paper today to find out more…

Programming the assembly of carboxylic acid-functionalised hybrid polyoxometalates
Marie Hutin, Carine Yvon, Jun Yan, Andrew Macdonell, De-Liang Long and Leroy Cronin
CrystEngComm, 2013
DOI: 10.1039/C3CE26816K, Paper

You may also be interested in the 2012 Dalton Transactions Polyoxometalates themed issue, that was guest edited by De-Liang Long and Leroy Cronin.

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Small crystals with big prospects – magnetite composites as candidates for energy storage

29 Jan 2013

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

In their Hot Article, Qiang Shen and colleagues from Shandong University report the generation of Fe₃O₄–C composites via the evolution of orthorhombic FeOCl. The crystals display some interesting electrochemical properties which make them potential candidates for next generation lithium ion batteries (LIBs).

We use LIBS in portable electronic devices such as phones and computers and LIB development has sparked a great deal of interest among materials scientists and crystal engineers alike.

Take a look at the results of the team’s research by downloading the article below, which is free to access for 4 weeks.

A chemical composition evolution for the shape-controlled synthesis and energy storage applicability of Fe₃O₄–C nanostructures
Fenfen Xu, Wenpei Kang, Xinxin Wang, Rui Liu, Chenhao Zhao and Qiang Shen

Interested in crystal engineering? Follow us on twitter @CrystEngComm

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Crystals aim to light up dark matter

16 Jan 2013

By Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant.

German scientists hunting dark matter are set to produce half a tonne of high-purity calcium tungstate for their detectors, one 1kg crystal at a time. The CRESST-II experiment based in Gran Sasso, Italy is currently seeking this enigmatic substance, thought to explain the universe’s structure, with 10kg of calcium tungstate (CaWO4). Now Andreas Erb and Jean-Côme Lanfranchi are preparing crystals for its larger successor EURECA, which will begin operation in the French Alps in 5–10 years.

Gravitational effects suggest as-yet-unobserved dark matter in the universe outnumbers more familiar atomic matter four to one. Erb, Lanfranchi and their colleagues are hunting leading theoretical candidates, Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). That name reflects their size – up to a lead atom’s mass – and the limited interaction with atomic matter that makes them hard to find, or ‘dark’. ‘They have to interact weakly to agree with the matter needed,’ says Richard Gaitskell from Brown University in the US, who isn’t involved in the calcium tungstate experiments.

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

Growth of High-Purity Scintillating CaWO4 Single Crystals for the Low-Temperature Direct Dark Matter Search Experiments CRESSTII and EURECA
Andreas Erb
CrystEngComm, 2013, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE26554K

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Halogen vs. hydrogen bonding

16 Jan 2013

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

Competing hydrogen-bond and halogen-bond donors in crystal engineering

In this HOT article by Aakeröy et al, relevant hydrogen-bond and halogen-bond acceptors and donors were selected to study the competition between these two molecular interactions in supramolecular assembly. Twelve co-crystals were synthesized based on two different azobipyridines as acceptors and six donor molecules possessing both hydrogen-bond and halogen-bond moieties. The key conclusions which could be drawn from the study were: (i) the hydrogen-bond is the principal driving force in the formation of 3,3′-azabipyridine co-crystals whereas hydrogen and halogen bonds do indeed compete in the formation of the 4,4′-azabipyridine co-crystals; (ii) the iodine donor appears to be a better halogen-bond donor than bromine; and (iii) the three different hydrogen-bond donors studied (–COOH, –OH and –CN(R)OH) behave similarly.

CrystEngComm Blog

Conference Report: 2nd China-India-Singapore Symposium on Crystal Engineering

Nanocubic silver gives enhanced SERS effect

Top ten most accessed articles in January

Modelling metastable zone width

Printing crystalline drugs

Halogen bonding: competitive and directional?

Acid-terminated hybrid POMs

Small crystals with big prospects – magnetite composites as candidates for energy storage

Crystals aim to light up dark matter

Halogen vs. hydrogen bonding

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