Piecewise 3D printing of crystallographic data for post-printing construction

Abstract

A method of 3D printing complex or challenging structures by breaking them into parts with connectors, printing each part separately, and then assembling the structure post-printing has been developed.

A 3D Printer in the Lab: Not Only a Toy

“…[21] b) Chemistry model sets which can be also downloaded and printed from. [4] c) X-ray structures, [12] and d) NMR 2D spectra can also be converted to 3D printable models. [13] solid-state NMR, [15] whole NMR magnets, [16] and even scaffolds for making NMR coils.…”

“…[ 21 ] b) Chemistry model sets which can be also downloaded and printed from. [ 4 ] c) X‐ray structures, [ 12 ] and d) NMR 2D spectra can also be converted to 3D printable models. [ 13 ]…”

“…Scanning for literature at this point will return plenty of 3D printable objects: molecular structural models, [ 4–;6 ] corals, [ 7 ] crystal structures, and 3D printed chips for obtaining crystals, [ 8 ] which are valuable models for teaching, and give the student a physical model of chemical structures, and so on (Figure 2b). There are, for example, instructions on how to convert crystallographic data to 3D printable models (Figure 2c) [ 9–12 ] or even how to convert NMR spectra to 3D prints (Figure 2d). [ 13,14 ] 3D printing and NMR do not end here: you can print sample tubes for solid‐state NMR, [ 15 ] whole NMR magnets, [ 16 ] and even scaffolds for making NMR coils.…”

New Promises and Opportunities in 3D Printable Inks Based on Coordination Compounds for the Creation of Objects with Multiple Applications

“…To conclude this section, a particular 3D printing method, which is applicable to extended structures, such as CPs, MOFs, and hydrogen‐bonding networks, is being developed to print challenging structures. This proof‐of‐concept technique, known as piecewise 3D printing, [24] consists of breaking the target structures into parts with connectors, printing each part separately and then assembling the structure postprinting. Moreover, it will offer some benefits, such as multicolored printing on monocolored printers, by passing the size restrictions of any 3D printer, reducing the amount of waste framework to make framework removal simpler, and make printing more efficient through print‐tray optimizations.…”

Bis(benzoxazol-2-yl)methanides in main group organometallic syntheses and enquiry-based education

“…Such models often need to be custom-made as they might not be commercially available. For this, 3D printing has become a powerful tool and has already been used for teaching single crystal X-ray diffraction, [112] periodicity and aperiodicity, [113] molecular symmetry, [114] point groups, [115] materials science and engineering [116] and biomolecular self-assembly. [117] Besides the availability of 3D printers, one reason for this is the accessibility of structural data from open access databases and freely available software to convert them into printable files.…”