Chapter One
Applications of Crystal
Engineering Strategies in
Solvent-free Reactions: Toward a
Supramolecular Green Chemistry
DARIO BRAGA, DANIELA D'ADDARIO, LUCIA MAINI, MARCO POLITO,
STEFANO GIAFFREDA, KATIA RUBINI and FABRIZIA GREPIONI
Dipartimento di Chimica G. Ciamician, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
1. INTRODUCTION
Making crystals by design is the paradigm of crystal engineering. The goal of this
field of research is that of assembling functionalized molecular and ionic components into
a target network of supramolecular interactions. This "bottom-up" process generates
collective supramolecular properties from the convolution of the physical and chemical
properties of the individual building blocks with the periodicity and symmetry operators
of the crystal (Figure 1).
One can envisage two main subareas of crystal engineering, namely, those of coordination
networks and of molecular materials, even though all possible intermediate situations are possible.
The preparation of coordination networks or polymers can be appropriately described as periodical ... read full excerpt from Frontiers in Crystal Engineering ebook
