Crystal Engineering

Crystal engineering is the study of designing and creating solid-state crystals with desired features by carefully regulating intermolecular interactions. It is a multidisciplinary academic topic that connects supramolecular chemistry to solid-state chemistry. Coordination bonding and hydrogen- and halogen-halogen bonding are the two primary engineering techniques now in use. With the help of fundamental ideas like the secondary building unit and the supramolecular synthon, these may be comprehended. Gerhard Schmidt is frequently given credit for the idea behind photodimerization processes in crystalline cinnamic acids, even though R. Pepinsky coined the phrase in 1955. The term's definition has significantly expanded since its original use to now cover a wide range of topics in solid state supramolecular chemistry. By defining crystal engineering as "the understanding of intermolecular interactions in the context of crystal packing and the utilisation of such understanding in the design of new solids with desired physical and chemical properties" in 1988, Gautam Desiraju offered a helpful definition for the modern era. It is obvious that the capacity to regulate the ordering of the molecules in the solid state would grant control over these properties because many of the bulk properties of molecular materials are determined by this ordering.