RSC Advances Blog

The field of polymorphism is an area of growing importance, and the discussions around it and related terms are still on-going in the area of crystal engineering.

Here, Katharina Fromm and colleagues from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland look at the historical development of the definition of polymorphism.  This systematic review provides discussion of polymorphism as it relates to different classes of compounds: elements, inorganic compounds and organic and organometallic compounds with chosen examples. 

Look out for the three schematic flow diagrams included in the conclusions as useful tools for determining polymorphism for each class of compounds.

Read this article for free until 20th September 2013:

Polymorphism, what it is and how to identify it: a systematic review
Jean-Pierre Brog, Claire-Lise Chanez, Aurelien Crochet and Katharina M. Fromm
RSC Adv., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3RA41559G