Crystal Engineering Involving Weak Bonds

Dear Colleague,

Crystal engineering remains a rapidly expanding field and that expansion shows no sign of slowing. The field depends crucially on practitioners manipulating intermolecular interactions to their advantage by careful molecular design. These interactions can be relatively strong, such as the metal-ligand interactions that are used to form coordination polymers. However, many materials are dependent on weaker interactions, either wholly or in part, that determine their structure and/or properties. Such interactions range from the “classical”, such as hydrogen bonds and π-π interactions to those that are considered more “exotic”, such as halogen bonding and anion-π interactions. The weak interactions are most commonly electrostatic in nature and therefore have a degree of predictability that can be exploited. Whilst referred to as “weak” the cumulative effect of these interactions is substantial and in the absence of stronger influences on the structure their effects are very significant.This special issue of “Crystals” is devoted to the use of these weak interactions in crystal engineering. Submissions are welcome which cover any aspect of this broad topic and we hope to see this wide field represented in its entirety.

Dr. David Turner
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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