The results of the sixth blind test of organic crystal structure prediction methods are presented and discussed, highlighting progress for salts, hydrates and bulky flexible molecules, as well as on-going challenges.

Molecular crystals cannot be designed like macroscopic objects because they do not assemble according to simple, intuitive rules. Their structure results from the balance of many weak interactions, unlike the strong and predictable bonding patterns found in metal–organic frameworks and covalent organic frameworks. Hence, design strategies that assume a topology or other structural blueprint will often fail. Here, we combine computational crystal structure prediction and property prediction to build energy–structure–function maps describing the possible structures and properties available to a candidate molecule. Using these maps, we identify a highly porous solid with the lowest density reported for a molecular crystal. Both crystal structure and physical properties, such as the methane storage capacity and guest selectivity, are predicted using the molecular diagram as the only input. More generally, energy–structure–function maps could be used to guide the experimental discovery of materials with any target function that can be calculated from predicted crystal structures, such as electronic structure or mechanical properties.

The energy-efficient separation of alkylaromatic compounds is a major industrial sustainability challenge. The use of selectively porous extended frameworks, such as zeolites or metal–organic frameworks, is one solution to this problem. Here, we studied a flexible molecular material, perethylated pillar[n]arene crystals (n = 5, 6), which can be used to separate C8 alkylaromatic compounds. Pillar[6]arene is shown to separate para-xylene from its structural isomers, meta-xylene and ortho-xylene, with 90% specificity in the solid state. Selectivity is an intrinsic property of the pillar[6]arene host, with the flexible pillar[6]arene cavities adapting during adsorption thus enabling preferential adsorption of para-xylene in the solid state. The flexibility of pillar[6]arene as a solid sorbent is rationalized using molecular conformer searches and crystal structure prediction (CSP) combined with comprehensive characterization by X-ray diffraction and 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The CSP study, which takes into account the structural variability of pillar[6]arene, breaks new ground in its own right and showcases the feasibility of applying CSP methods to understand and ultimately to predict the behavior of soft, adaptive molecular crystals.

The ketonic decarboxylation of carboxylic acids has been carried out experimentally and studied theoretically by DFT calculations. In the experiments, monoclinic zirconia was identified as a good catalyst, giving high activity and high selectivity when compared with other potential catalysts, such as silica, alumina, or ceria. It was also shown that it could be used for a wide range of substrates, namely, for carboxylic acids with two to eighteen carbon atoms. The reaction mechanism for the ketonic decarboxylation of acetic acid over monoclinic zirconia was investigated by using a periodic DFT slab model. A reaction pathway with the formation of a β-keto acid intermediate was considered, as well as a concerted mechanism, involving simultaneous carbon-carbon bond formation and carbon dioxide elimination. DFT results showed that the mechanism with the β-keto acid was the kinetically favored one and this was further supported by an experiment employing a mixture of isomeric (linear and branched) pentanoic acids.

Synthetic control over pore size and pore connectivity is the crowning achievement for porous metal-organic frameworks. The same level of control has not been achieved for molecular crystals, which are not defined by strong, directional intermolecular coordination bonds. Hence, molecular crystallization is inherently less controllable than framework crystallization, and there are fewer examples of 'reticular synthesis'-where multiple building blocks can be assembled according to a common assembly motif.Here, we apply a chiral recognition strategy to a new family of tubular covalent cages, to create both 1-D porous nanotubes and 3-D diamondoid pillared porous networks.The diamondoid networks are analogous to metal-organic frameworks prepared from tetrahedral metal nodes and linear, ditopic organic linkers. The crystal structures can be rationalized by computational lattice energy searches, which provide an in silico screening method to evaluate candidate molecular building blocks. These results are a blueprint for applying the 'node and strut' principles of reticular synthesis to molecular crystals.Despite many advances in supramolecular chemistry, it is still challenging to control molecular crystallization to create a specific, useful property. 1,2 This is important in the emerging area of porous molecular solids, 3 which have practical advantages such as solution processability. The crystal packing in porous molecular crystals defines the pore dimensions, which in turn define properties such as guest selectivity. 4,5 The same challenge-control over solid state structure-applies to all 2 functional molecular crystals because crystal packing defines physical properties such as electronic band gap and thermal or electrical conductivity.A central paradigm in crystal engineering is to synthesize building blocks, or 'tectons', with strong, directional interactions, such as hydrogen bonding 6 or metal-ligand binding, 7 which direct assembly into a targeted three-dimensional superstructure (Fig. 1). 1,2,8,9 For metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and porous coordination polymers (PCPs), directional metal-ligand bonds are used to do this (Fig. 1a). [10][11][12][13][14] Likewise, hydrogen bonding can be used to create organic molecular crystals with defined network structures (Fig. 1b). 9,15,16 We have used chiral recognition to assemble porous organic cages 3 (POCs) into structures with 3-D pore channels (Fig. 1c). 3 POCs are rigid molecules with a permanent internal void that is accessible to guests via 'windows' in the cage. [17][18][19] Control of structure and function for POCs can be difficult, however, because slight changes in the molecular structure 19 or the crystallization solvent 20 can cause a profound change in the crystal packing. Chiral window-towindow interactions (Fig. 1e,f) can direct these POCs to assemble into 3-D pore networks in several cases, 19,21,22 but this is not ubiquitous. For example, some cages require specific solvents to template the window-to-window packing. 20 The chiral cage CC3-S (...

Isosteric heats of adsorption of CO2 on sodium-exchanged ferrierites (Na−FER) with different Si/Al ratios were obtained from the adsorption isotherms recorded in the temperature range between 273 and 333 K. The isosteric heats of adsorption significantly depend on the content of the Na+ cation in the zeolite. Large isosteric heats of adsorption were obtained for Na−FER when Si/Al = 8.7. On the basis of calculations employing the periodic density functional theory (DFT) model, these large isosteric heats are attributed to the formation of the linearly bridged CO2 adsorption complexes formed between a pair of Na+ cations located in cationic positions. The CO2 adsorption complexes formed on such dual-cation sites are ca. 10 kJ/mol more stable than the CO2 adsorption complexes where CO2 interacts only with a single Na cation.

Academic Press; ElsevierPulido Junquera, MA.; Concepción Heydorn, P.; Boronat Zaragoza, M.; Corma Canós, A. (2012). Aerobic epoxidation of propene over silver (111) and (100) AbstractCatalytic performance of single crystal Ag(100) and Ag(111) catalysts for propene oxidation has been investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, and the energy profile has been obtained at the DFT-D level. It has been theoretically found, and confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, that Ag(100) surface is more reactive towards O 2 dissociation than Ag(111), and that adsorbed oxo-species are more strongly bonded to the Ag(100) facet. The higher selectivity towards propylene oxide (PO) observed for the Ag(100) catalyst can be rationalized from theoretical calculations indicating that the activation barriers for formation of the allylic intermediate -precursor of combustion products-are rather similar on both silver surfaces, whereas energy barriers on the reaction pathways for formation of PO and carbonylic products (acetone and propanal) are systematically smaller on the Ag (100) surface.

(19)F NMR chemical shifts are calculated in order to study the F(-) environment in double four ring (D4R) containing Si/Ge-zeolites. The calculations with the DFT/CSGT/B3PW91 methodology yielded an agreement within 2 ppm with respect to the experimental peaks corresponding to the D4R units containing 8Si0Ge, 7Si1Ge and 0Si8Ge of the octadecasil zeolite. The optimisation of the 7Si1Ge-, 6Si2Ge-, 5Si3Ge- and 4Si4Ge-D4R units with DFT/B3LYP methodology shows that a covalent Ge-F bond is formed and therefore a Ge atom in the D4R is pentacoordinated. The displacement of the fluoride ion towards a Ge atom in the Ge-containing D4R units locates four Si/Ge atoms in the close vicinity of the F(-) and this makes possible a rationalization of the (19)F NMR signals in groups according to the number of Si (n) and Ge (m) atoms in the nearest F(-) environment, F-Si(n)Ge(m) (where n+m=4). Thus, the calculated chemical shifts show that higher values are observed when the number of Ge atoms in the nearest F(-) environment increases.