Making crystals with a purpose; a journey in crystal engineering at the University of Bologna

• Main Authors: Dario Braga, Fabrizia Grepioni, Lucia Maini, Simone d'Agostino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Union of Crystallography 2017-07-01
• Series: IUCrJ
• Subjects: cocrystals; solid solutions; polymorphism; luminescence; chirality
• Online Access: http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S2052252517005917

The conceptual relationship between crystal reactivity, stability and metastability, solubility and morphology on the one hand and shape, charge distribution, chirality and distribution of functional groups over the molecular surfaces on the other hand is discussed, via a number of examples coming from three decades of research in the field of crystal engineering at the University of Bologna. The bottom-up preparation of mixed crystals, co-crystals and photoreactive materials starting from molecular building blocks across the borders of organic, organometallic and metalorganic chemistry is recounted.