Decoding Organic Multicomponent Crystals

Organic multicomponent crystals can alter material properties without changing the covalent structures of their constituent molecules. René de Gelder examines how these crystals can be classified and how chirality affects the resulting classes and subclasses. Thousands of structures in resources such as the Cambridge Structural Database provide the basis for a network-science analysis of structural diversity. The approach seeks principles governing multicomponent crystal formation, ways to predict new combinations, and a map of the transition between cocrystals and salts.