Intermolecular interactions in molecular crystals: what's in a name?

Faraday Discuss

Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia.

Published: October 2017

AI Article Synopsis

  • Understanding the structure-property relationships is crucial for crystal engineering, specifically for designing molecular crystals with desired characteristics through manipulation of intermolecular interactions.
  • The rise in research highlights the role of various non-canonical interactions (like halogen and pnicogen bonds) alongside traditional hydrogen bonds, which can all be analyzed through changes in electron density due to chemical bonding.
  • By linking these interactions to molecular electrostatic potential and calculating intermolecular interaction energies, researchers can visualize how these elements influence the arrangement and properties of molecular crystals.

Article Abstract

Structure-property relationships are the key to modern crystal engineering, and for molecular crystals this requires both a thorough understanding of intermolecular interactions, and the subsequent use of this to create solids with desired properties. There has been a rapid increase in publications aimed at furthering this understanding, especially the importance of non-canonical interactions such as halogen, chalcogen, pnicogen, and tetrel bonds. Here we show how all of these interactions - and hydrogen bonds - can be readily understood through their common origin in the redistribution of electron density that results from chemical bonding. This redistribution is directly linked to the molecular electrostatic potential, to qualitative concepts such as electrostatic complementarity, and to the calculation of quantitative intermolecular interaction energies. Visualization of these energies, along with their electrostatic and dispersion components, sheds light on the architecture of molecular crystals, in turn providing a link to actual crystal properties.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7fd00072cDOI Listing

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