CrystEngComm Blog

Happy Chinese New Year

23 Jan 2012

The CrystEngComm team wishes you success in the Year of the Dragon, and we hope that you enjoy your New Year holiday.

In celebration we have made these recently promoted CrystEngComm Hot articles free to read for the whole of February:

Investigation on the influence of cerium doping form on the luminescence properties of Lu0.8Sc0.2BO3 scintillation crystals
Yuntao Wu, Guohao Ren, Dongzhou Ding, Fan Yang and Shangke Pan
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06332H

Large organic single crystal sheets grown from the gas–liquid and gas–liquid–solid interface
Hui Shang, Huan Wang, Na Gao, Fangzhong Shen, Xianjie Li and Yuguang Ma
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05989K

Three novel organic-inorganic hybrid materials based on decaoxovanadates obtained from a new liquid phase reaction
Yao-Kang Lv, Zhan-Guo Jiang, Li-Hua Gan, Ming-Xian Liu and Yun-Long Feng
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05605K

Copper sulfide cages wholly exposed with nanotwinned building blocks
Shaodong Sun, Xiaoping Song, Chuncai Kong, Dongchu Deng and Zhimao Yang
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE06135F

CrystEngComm supports an online virtual web community for crystal engineers, providing links to international research groups, conferences and events, and highlighting the latest research in the field. Be a part of this by accessing the CrystEngComm blog, liking us on facebook, following us on twitter or signing up to our e-alert service.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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Nanorods in minutes

23 Jan 2012

By Ruth Doherty, Deputy Editor.

PbSe nanorods have been successfully made by solution–liquid–solid (SLS) growth of PbSe nanocrystals. This growth was followed by oriented attachment of adjacent PbSe nanoparticles. The team from South Korea who carried out this synthesis used Bi catalysts dispersed in the precursor solution to make these nanocrystals thereby reducing the time and temperature taken to produce them.

Enhanced formation of PbSe nanorods via combined solution–liquid–solid growth and oriented attachment
Min-Seok Kim and Yun-Mo Sung
CrystEngComm, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06353K

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Hot Article: Doping scintillation crystals

23 Jan 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

Cerium is an interesting element for luminescence, however only Ce³⁺ ions give rise to fast luminescence because the charge transfer transition in Ce⁴⁺ is spin-forbidden. Ce-doped lutetium scandium orthoborate (Lu_0.8Sc_0.2BO₃:Ce) has potential application in gamma-ray detection and in this Hot Article by Yuntao Wu and Guohao Ren et al. (Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) the oxidation state of the Ce ions is investigated.

The study on single crystals of Lu_0.8Sc_0.2BO₃:Ce utilizes XANES based on new generation synchrotron radiation. The research team were able to discover the influence cerium doping has on the luminescence mechanism and the type of point defect in Lu_0.8Sc_0.2BO₃:Ce crystals.

This Hot Article is free to access for 4 weeks and you can keep up to date with the latest news in crystal engineering by liking us on facebook, following us on twitter or signing up to our e-alert service!

Investigation on the influence of cerium doping form on the luminescence properties of Lu_0.8Sc_0.2BO₃ scintillation crystals
Yuntao Wu, Guohao Ren, Dongzhou Ding, Fan Yang and Shangke Pan
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06332H, Paper

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CrystEngComm publishes its first Accepted Manuscript!

17 Jan 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

CrystEngComm publishes its first Accepted Manuscript! Read it here now……

On the origin of the electroactive poly(vinylidene fluoride) β–phase nucleation by ferrite nanoparticles via surface electrostatic interactions
Pedro Martins, Carlos M Costa, Maria Benelmekki, Gabriela Botelho and Senentxu Lanceros-Mendez
CrystEngComm, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06654H

Our Accepted Manuscript service means your research is available, in citable form, even more rapidly.

Accepted Manuscripts are replaced by the edited and formatted Advance Articles as soon as they are available.

More information about Accepted Manuscripts can be found in the Information for Authors or email us in the Editorial Office with questions.

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January Crystal Clear: Evolution of a cube

17 Jan 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

This months Crystal Clear shows a near perfect rhombic dodecahedron from Janosch Cravillon, Michael Wiebcke and colleagues at the Leibniz Universitat Hannover in their article published in Issue 2 of CrystEngComm.

The team have investigated crystal morphology of a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) using a solvothermal synthesis in methanol solvent. By modulating the crystallisation process using a simple monodentate ligand they were able to study the crystal morphology with time, discovering via intermediate steps the initially cubic crystals become rhombic dodecahedra as displayed in this striking SEM image.

You can see the team’s images of the crystal evolution and read their findings on modulation and the parameters which affect it in their paper below.

Formate modulated solvothermal synthesis of ZIF-8 investigated using time-resolved in situ X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy
Janosch Cravillon, Christian A. Schröder, Helge Bux, André Rothkirch, Jürgen Caro and Michael Wiebcke
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 492-498
DOI: 10.1039/C1CE06002C

If you’re interested in zeolitic imidazolate frameworks there is also this article on the application of ZIF-9 in catalysis. (All articles in Catalysis Science & Technology are free to access for the duration of 2012).

Metal–organic frameworks for catalysis: the Knoevenagel reaction using zeolite imidazolate framework ZIF-9 as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst
Lien T. L. Nguyen, Ky K. A. Le, Hien X. Truong and Nam T. S. Phan
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00386K

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HOT Paper: Exploring co-crystals to increase efficacy of HIV drug

12 Jan 2012

By Jennifer Newton, Publishing Editor.

Co-crystallisation of nevirapine with maleic acid lead to around a fivefold increase in the aqueous solubility of the drug.

Mino Caira and colleagues have created co-crystals of nevirapine (an antiretroviral drug) with maleic acid that could improve the aqueous solubility of the drug. Their success was a result of exploiting several hydrogen-bonding functionalities in nevirapine, in particular (but not exclusively) its rigid amide group.

Read their paper to find out more – its currently free.

Co-crystals of the antiretroviral nevirapine: crystal structures, thermal analysis and dissolution behaviour
Mino R. Caira, Susan A. Bourne, Halima Samsodien, Emile Engel, Wilna Liebenberg, Nicole Stieger and Marique Aucamp
CrystEngComm, 2012
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06507J

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Hot Highlight: Porous organic molecular materials

11 Jan 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

Metal–organic frameworks are materials containing coordination bonds between organic linkers and metal ions or clusters, exclusion of guest molecules in the structure can create a highly porous material with potential for gas storage, gas separation or catalysis. Other well studied nanoporous materials include zeolites, metal oxide molecular sieves, silica gels, activated carbons, covalent organic frameworks and organic network polymers.

This highlight from Jian Tian, Praveen K. Thallapally and B Peter McGrail from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reviews a very different class of nanoporous material, those comprised entirely of discrete organic molecules containing only weak non-covalent interactions. Often there is very close packing in the crystals (with voids or channels rarely exceeding 25 Angstroms) but under the right conditions solvents can be included within the structure in zero, one, two or three dimensional solvent accessible voids.

If the solvent can be easily removed from the structure highly porous crystalline materials can be made from organic compounds, the difficulty however is that upon desolvation the crystals often collapse into closely packed structures. This review discusses a wide range of structures which have been found to be stable as porous organic molecular materials, including crystalline structures with voids and amorphous solids with interconnected disordered pores. Read the CrystEngComm Hot Article (which is free to access for 4 weeks) for more details.

Porous organic molecular materials
Jian Tian, Praveen K. Thallapally and B Peter McGrail
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06457J, Highlight

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2012 GRC on Crystal Engineering

11 Jan 2012

By Ruth Doherty, Deputy Editor.

Christer Aakeroy, co-Vice Chair of the GRC

The 2012 GRC on Crystal Engineering is taking place this year from June 10-15, 2012 at Waterville Valley Resort, NH, USA. This GRC will be chaired by Robin Rogers, with co-Vice-Chairs Mike Zaworotko and CrystEngComm Associate Editor, Christer Aakeroy. The meeting will also include a new and exciting Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) in which only students and postdocs may present or lead discussions. More information is available on the GRC website.

The 2012 GRC on Crystal Engineering follows the highly successful first ever GRC on Crystal Engineering (2010) which had over 160 international participants. Read about my experience at the excellent 2010 GRC in this editorial.

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Top ten most accessed articles in November

11 Jan 2012

By Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant.

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

Highly interpenetrated diamondoid nets of Zn(ii) and Cd(ii) coordination networks from mixed ligands
Jian-Jr Cheng, Ya-Ting Chang, Chia-Jun Wu, Yi-Fen Hsu, Chia-Her Lin, Davide M. Proserpio and Jhy-Der Chen
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 537-543 DOI:10.1039/c1ce06019h

Construction of helical networks by using multiple V-shaped mixed ligand systems
Arijit Goswami, Satirtha Sengupta and Raju Mondal
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 561-572 DOI:10.1039/c1ce05380a

Axially chiral metal-organic frameworks produced from spontaneous resolution with an achiral pyridyl dicarboxylate ligand
Xin Tan, Jixian Zhan, Jianyong Zhang, Long Jiang, Mei Pan and Cheng-Yong Su
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 63-66 DOI:10.1039/c1ce05995e

Structural diversity and properties of coordination polymers built from a semi-rigid tetradentenate carboxylic acid
Ling-Ling Qu, You-Long Zhu, Jun Zhang, Yi-Zhi Li, Hong-Bin Du and Xiao-Zeng You
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article DOI:10.1039/c1ce05931a

Five coordination networks based on zwitterionic ligands: synthesis, crystal structures and optical properties
Guo-Qiang Kong and Chuan-De Wu
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article DOI:10.1039/c1ce06052j

A new type of 3D [(MII)2(TCNQ-II)3]2- coordination network with spacious channels of hexagonal cross-section generated from TCNQH2
Brendan F. Abrahams, Robert W. Elliott, Timothy A. Hudson and Richard Robson
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 351-354 DOI:10.1039/c1ce06104f

Temperature and auxiliary ligand-controlled supramolecular assembly in a series of Zn(ii)-organic frameworks: syntheses, structures and properties
Kou-Lin Zhang, Chuan-Tao Hou, Jing-Jing Song, Ye Deng, Liang Li, Seik Weng Ng and Guo-Wang Diao
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 590-600 DOI:10.1039/c1ce05577a

Novel tetrazole-based metal?organic frameworks constructed from in situ synthesize bifunctional ligands: syntheses, structure and luminescent properties
Lin Sun, Li Ma, Jin-Biao Cai, Li Liang and Hong Deng
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article DOI:10.1039/c1ce05829k

Selective carbon dioxide uptake and crystal-to-crystal transformation: porous 3D framework to 1D chain triggered by conformational change of the spacer
Ritesh Haldar and Tapas Kumar Maji
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 684-690 DOI:10.1039/c1ce05847a

Synthesis, structures and luminescent properties of new Pb(ii)/M(i) (M = K, Rb and Cs) frameworks based on dicarboxylic acids: a novel icosahedral Pb6-M6 SBU
Xian-Qiang Li, Hua-Bin Zhang, Shu-Ting Wu, Jian-Di Lin, Ping Lin, Zhi-Hua Li and Shao-Wu Du
CrystEngComm, 2012, Advance Article DOI:10.1039/c1ce06111a

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.

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Hot Article: Polar Crystals

10 Jan 2012

By Ruth Doherty, Deputy Editor.

‘To get a polar crystal is still a challenging task,’ say Roberto Centore and colleagues. However in their CrystEngComm Hot article they in fact tell us about the discovery of a new class of non-chiral compounds forming polar crystal structures.

Their compounds are made by condensation of 4-hydroxybenzohydrazide with a variety of non-chiral aliphatic ketones, both cyclic and acyclic, such as methyl-ethylketone, acetone, cyclohexanone and cyclobutanone and all of them exhibit second harmonic generation (SHG) activity. In one case, they found that solid state polymorphism characterized by single-crystal-to-single-crystal transitions between polar phases was taking place.

Read their paper now – free to access until the 4th February:

A series of compounds forming polar crystals and showing single-crystal-to-single-crystal transitions between polar phases
Roberto Centore, Mojca Jazbinsek, Angela Tuzi, Antonio Roviello, Amedeo Capobianco and Andrea Peluso
CrystEngComm, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2CE06352B

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CrystEngComm Blog

Happy Chinese New Year

Nanorods in minutes

Hot Article: Doping scintillation crystals

CrystEngComm publishes its first Accepted Manuscript!

January Crystal Clear: Evolution of a cube

HOT Paper: Exploring co-crystals to increase efficacy of HIV drug

Hot Highlight: Porous organic molecular materials

2012 GRC on Crystal Engineering

Top ten most accessed articles in November

Hot Article: Polar Crystals

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