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Foreword to the special issue Crystallography in Latin America: a vibrant community
aCinvestav, Av. Insituto Politecnico Nacional 2508, Col. San Pedro Zacatenco, Cd. de México 07360, Mexico, and bDepartamento de Química-ICEx, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil
*Correspondence e-mail: mrosales@cinvestav.mx
Keywords: Latin America; collection; computational simulations; magnetic properties; Hirshfeld surface analysis; conformational studies; bioactive molecules; mechanochemistry.
Over the last few months, Acta Crystallographica Section C: Structural Chemistry has published a number of papers by Latin American authors. These form a collection dedicated to Latin American research entitled `Crystallography in Latin America: a vibrant community'.
The collection highlights the diversity and quality of research conducted by Latin American scientists. The Latin American Crystallographic Association (LACA), a Regional Associate of the IUCr, plays a pivotal role in promoting crystallography through meetings and schools aimed at engaging both young and senior researchers. LACA represents several crystallographic communities across countries including Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Cuba.
The investigations featured in this collection are highly diverse, encompassing not only structural descriptions (Fajardo et al., 2024![[Fajardo, D. A., Arteaga, D., Ellena, J., Santiago, P. H. O., D'Vries, R. F. & Lenis, L. A. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 200-211.]](../../../../../../logos/arrows/c_arr.gif "Fajardo, D. A., Arteaga, D., Ellena, J., Santiago, P. H. O., D'Vries, R. F. & Lenis, L. A. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 200-211."){kind=small}
; Atencio et al., 2024; Dival et al., 2024; Anaya-Avila et al., 2024), but also computational simulations in the solid state (Nascimento et al., 2024; Calisto et al., 2024), studies of magnetic properties and bahaviour (Araujo Junior et al., 2024; Bermúdez et al., 2024), Hirshfeld surface analyses (Sánchez-Pacheco et al., 2024; Pinto et al., 2024; Guzmán-Hernández & Jancik, 2024), bioactive molecules (Monge-Hoyos et al., 2024; Guimaraes et al., 2024), conformational studies (Movilla et al., 2025; García-González et al., 2024) and mechanochemistry (González-González et al., 2024). These contributions demonstrate the broad and impactful research being undertaken by Latin American crystallographers across a range of significant scientific areas.
An article of general interest provides a fascinating historical account of crystallography in Argentina (Piro, 2025), particularly at the University of La Plata, showcasing its longstanding collaboration with the University of São Carlos in Brazil.
This collection also emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of crystallography, highlighting its connections with other research fields and presenting innovative and thought-provoking studies. Contributions come from researchers in Brazil, México, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all the authors who made this collection possible. May this be a continued celebration of vibrant and impactful research in Latin America. We are also grateful to Acta Crystallographica Section C for having given the space and the effort in the publication of this collection and hope that future collaboration between the journal and researchers from Latin America will continue to be fruitful.
References
Anaya-Avila, O., Muñoz-Granados, O., Andrade-López, N., Alvarado-Rodríguez, J. G. & Martínez-Otero, D. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 698–706. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Araujo Junior, C. R., Oliveira, W. X. C., Pinheiro, C. B., Pedroso, E. F., Nunes, W. C., de Almeida, A. A., Knobel, M., Julve, M. & Pereira, C. L. M. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 349–356. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Atencio, R., Linares, M. M., González, T. & Briceño, A. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 487–496. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Bermúdez, M. M., Muller, F. G., Baggio, R. & Cukiernik, F. D. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 627–632. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Calisto, V. F. M., De Abreu, H. A. & Diniz, R. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 620–626. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Dival, B., Pitinato, L., Develly, L. & Oliveira, W. X. C. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 497–504. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Fajardo, D. A., Arteaga, D., Ellena, J., Santiago, P. H. O., D'Vries, R. F. & Lenis, L. A. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 200–211. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
García-González, J. V., Alvarado-Rodríguez, J. G., Andrade-López, N., Zamora-Martínez, E., Jancik, V. & Martínez-Otero, D. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 357–365. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
González-González, J. S., Martínez-Santos, A., Emparán-Legaspi, M. J., Pineda-Contreras, A., Martínez-Martínez, F. J., Flores-Alamo, M. & García-Ortega, H. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 190–199. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Guimaraes, S. P., Dos Santos, L. H. R. & Rodrigues, B. L. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 505–513. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Guzmán-Hernández, J. de D. & Jancik, V. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 766–774. Web of Science CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Monge-Hoyos, K., Moreno-Fuquen, R., Arango-Daraviña, K., Ellena, J. & Santiago, P. H. O. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 707–715. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Movilla, F., Rey, J. M., López Borda, M. del R. & Di Salvo, F. (2025). Acta Cryst. C81, 64–76. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Nascimento, G. R., Bazan, S. F. & de Lima, G. F. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 458–471. Web of Science CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Pinto, C. B., Dos Santos, L. H. R. & Rodrigues, B. L. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 478–486. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Piro, O. E. (2025). Acta Cryst. C81, 14–21. CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
Sánchez-Pacheco, A. D., Huerta, E. H., Espinosa-Camargo, J. B., Rodríguez-Nájera, E. V., Martínez-Otero, D., Hernández-Ortega, S. & Valdés-Martínez, J. (2024). Acta Cryst. C80, 343–348. CSD CrossRef IUCr Journals Google Scholar
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