Form Meets Function

This event is the third GRC dedicated to crystal engineering following on from highly successful meetings in 2010 and 2012, each of which was attended by over 150 international participants. This GRC will be accompanied by an exciting Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) titled "Mechanochemistry and Solid-state Reactivity: State of the Art" in which only students and postdocs will present or lead discussions. The GRC and the GRS will together provide a unique opportunity for participants to discuss and debate the very latest trends and findings within this highly interdisciplinary and rapidly evolving area of science.

Practical crystal engineering typically utilizes a bottom-up approach towards the assembly and construction of large architectures with well-defined chemical compositions, topologies and dimensions. The building blocks themselves can be any discrete chemical entity such as neutral organic molecules, ionic species or coordination complexes. The deliberate and directed assembly of these entities into larger structures is achieved with the aid of a wide variety of non-covalent interactions including (but not limited to) hydrogen- and halogen bonds, and coordination bonds. Crystal engineering is moving rapidly towards the design, synthesis and characterization of functional materials, but the area is not just about finding quick routes to new solids that offer smarter, faster and cheaper materials. Equally important is the task of seeking a better understanding of how fundamental laws of physics manifest themselves in ordered crystalline materials.

Progress in this area will take place at the confluence of organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry and requires a unique interface of experimental and theoretical tools and data provided by academics and industrialists alike. The purpose of these two meetings is to bring together a wide range of experts with a diverse background and will consist of the following session topics:

• From structure to function in molecular solids
• Pharmaceutical aspects of crystal engineering
• Nucleation and crystal growth
• Coordination polymers
• Functional MOFs
• Intermolecular interactions; Theory and Practice
• Crystallographic databases, crystal structure prediction and polymorphism
• Assembly of co-crystals and other multicomponent molecular solids