Crystallography and molecular interactions

Crystallography and molecular interactions is the study of how molecules recognize, attract, and organize themselves through weak forces—hydrogen bonds, halogen bonds, and the subtle pull between aromatic rings—without forming the covalent bonds that hold individual molecules together. Understanding these noncovalent interactions allows chemists to deliberately design molecular crystals and cocrystals with targeted properties, a practice known as crystal engineering, which has practical consequences for drug formulation, materials science, and functional solid-state devices. A central challenge is predicting which arrangement of molecules a crystal will actually adopt, since even small changes in molecular structure or crystallization conditions can redirect assembly toward entirely different forms. Active research is pushing into mechanochemistry—triggering crystal formation through grinding rather than solvents—and into mapping the full energetic landscape of interactions involving halogen atoms and aromatic systems, where theory and experiment still do not always agree.

Works

47,175

Total citations

1,241,195

Keywords

Noncovalent InteractionsMolecular CrystalsSupramolecular ChemistryHydrogen BondingHalogen BondingAromatic Rings