2014 International year of crystallography celebration: India

X-ray crystallography has always had a deep-seated significance in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology. It is an outstanding technique for the determination of the structure of organic, inorganic and metal–organic framework substances. Hence, the United Nations has declared 2014 to be the International Year of Crystallography (IYCr2014) and the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) has partnered with UNESCO to implement IYCr2014.¹ The IUCr has decided to make major attempts to publicize the fundamental role of X-ray crystallography among thousands of scientists and students worldwide to celebrate IYCR2014. In order to celebrate IYCR2014, CrystEngComm has decided to publish 4 themed collections [India, Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe and South Africa] highlighting crystal engineering research from around the world. CrystEngComm, the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal dedicated to publishing high impact research papers on the design and understanding of solid-state and crystalline materials, has published more than 25 themed collections since 2008. However, these issues have mainly focused on different subject areas, such as computational contributions to crystal engineering, crystal engineering in molecular magnetism, 2D crystal engineering, and crystal engineering and crystallography in the pharmaceutical industry. There has only been one collection [New talent: Americas, 2012] that has been constructed around a geographic region. Hence, the CrystEngComm Editorial Board has decided to present a collection of papers on crystal engineering research from different geographical locations.

X-ray crystallography has always played a crucial role in the growth and development of the subject of crystal engineering. This includes the design of organic and metal–organic materials, a research area that is particularly strong in India. Research in crystal engineering is extremely interdisciplinary [an inevitable need of modern science], cutting across the boundaries of organic, inorganic and physical chemistry. Not only are a large number of independent research groups working in many areas of crystal engineering in India, but 8–10% of the papers which appear in CrystEngComm are from India. Hence, the CrystEngComm Editorial Board has rightly decided to focus on a stand-alone themed collection featuring papers solely from India to commemorate IYCr2014. As guest editor, it is a real pleasure for me to be able to present a collection of papers produced by senior and young scientists from India, covering a wide variety of topics in crystal engineering. For me, the highlight of this IYCR2014: India themed collection is the article by Desiraju and co-workers on the understanding of supramolecular synthons in organic solids using simple IR spectroscopy (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42156B). Furthermore, in this collection there are contributions highlighting different sections of crystal engineering, including papers on polymorphism and pseudo-polymorphism by Reddy (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42159G), and Thakuria and Nangia (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42301H); on coordination polymers or metal–organic frameworks by Natarajan (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42311E), Ghoshal (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42441C), Konar (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42451K), Nagaraja (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42454E), Bharadwaj (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42628A), Biradha (DOI: 10.1039/C4CE00123K), and Das (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42637H); on co-crystals and salts of pharmaceutical compounds by Nangia (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42347F); on supramolecular synthons by Sarma (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42332H), and by Saha (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42449A); on the directed self-assembly of organic species by Ghosh (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42509F), Chandrasekar (DOI: 10.1039/C4CE00084F), and Moorthy (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42515K); on solid-state photo-reactivity by Haldar (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42582G); polyoxometalates by Roy (DOI: 10.1039/C4CE00115J) and examinations of the role of weaker forces in the recognition of anions by Ghosh (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42440E), and Dastidar (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42655F).

I am very happy to conclude that the future of crystal engineering research and the activities of CrystEngComm are very bright in India. I am certainly looking forward to watching and participating in the growth and development of this field over the next few years. Overall, this collection demonstrates the strength of crystal engineering in India.

Notes and references

1. G. R. Desiraju, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2014, 53, 604.

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