For inorganic chemists, the 1990s have brought a blossoming, both of a large field of ordered solid-state structure synthesis and a large number of words to describe it. Organized, functional nanostructures are made using supramolecular chemistry; molecular recognition guides selfassembly or self-organization; molecular patterning and templating are tools for directed synthesis."'21 All of these words reflect a desire, on the part of the chemist, to deliberately control, to design, the synthesis of a particular solid-state structure.In order to achieve the goals of advanced materials science which are to create materials for quantum electronics, nonlinear optics, photonics, chemoselective sensing, size-and shape-selective electrocatalysis and redox processes, among others, we wish to build-in function by controlling form. Within the field of crystalline, microporous "zeotype" materials, there has been a significant change reflected in the language used to describe the work. Natural and synthetic zeolites were discovered, where currently we design, or "create and invent""] novel open framework types. The diversity of non-oxide open-framework materials, that we "design" today are not materials "waiting to be discovered".The object of self-assembly is to put together a set of reagents, molecules, with matching functional groups and or templates, such that they are compelled to join together in a predefined way. This is, of course, easier said than done! The challenge, then, is to characterize and to predict the modes of formation of the desired materials, in this case crystalline, non-oxide, porous, inorganic and organometallic frameworks. The empirical approach has been to synthesize as many structures in as many systems with as many topologies as possible, in order to fully explore and understand all the tools at hand, and so to develop the skill to predefine the structure-property-function relationship.