The supramolecular concept as a bridge between organic, inorganic and organometallic crystal chemistry

Abstract

Organic, inorganic and organometallic crystal chemistry have, over the years, developed independently. An organic crystal is usually viewed as an ordered assembly of molecules, while inorganic crystal structures are traditionally depicted as networks. Organometallic crystallography has had an almost exclusively molecular bias in that the crystal packing characteristics of metal complexes and clusters have not been investigated systematically. With the emergence and growth of supramolecular chemistry and crystal engineering, which is in effect solid state supramolecular synthesis, it is possible and profitable to seek similarities between the crystal structures of these three vast groupiings of substances.