Crystal engineering

Crystal engineering designs molecular crystals with desired structures and properties by controlling intermolecular interactions. It uses molecular recognition and solid-state packing to guide how molecules assemble.

Hydrogen bond: An attractive interaction involving a hydrogen atom bonded to an electronegative atom and another electronegative atom. Directional hydrogen bonds often act as predictable links between molecules in designed crystals.
X-ray crystallography: A method that determines atomic arrangements by analyzing X-ray diffraction from crystals. It reveals whether a designed crystal adopted the intended molecular arrangement.
Pharmaceutical cocrystal: A crystalline solid containing an active pharmaceutical ingredient and one or more neutral coformers. Cocrystal design can alter an ingredient's solubility, stability, or other solid-state behavior.
Gerhard Schmidt: An Israeli chemist known for research on photochemical reactions in crystals and crystal structure. His solid-state photochemistry helped establish that crystal arrangements can control molecular reactivity.
Kinetic versus thermodynamic control: A distinction between products favored by formation rates and those favored by equilibrium stability. Crystallization conditions can trap a fast-forming structure instead of the most stable design.
Supramolecular synthon: A recurring intermolecular arrangement used to understand and design molecular crystal structures. Synthons translate chosen molecular interactions into recognizable crystal-building patterns.
Space group: A mathematical classification of the symmetry operations that leave a crystal structure unchanged. Space-group symmetry constrains the arrangements available to molecules in a crystal.
Cocrystal: A crystalline solid composed of distinct molecular components in a defined stoichiometric ratio. Cocrystals let designers combine molecules to modify material properties without changing covalent structure.
Crystal engineering (book): A 1992 book by Gautam R. Desiraju that helped define crystal engineering as a field. Its framework connected intermolecular interactions with the deliberate design of crystal structures.
Polymorph screening: The systematic search for distinct crystalline forms of a compound. Screening reveals competing structures that can frustrate a single intended crystal design.

Linked from 2 pages