special issues

Acta Crystallographica Section C publishes focused special sections and issues devoted to all areas of structural chemistry.

The journal has published exciting special issues on topics as diverse as

The journal also publishes curated collections from its archive, or virtual issues. The third virtual issue featured coordination polymers, with an introduction by Len Barbour.

If you would like to see a special issue on a particular topic enabled by the determination, calculation or analysis of small-molecule crystal and molecular structures in the chemical sciences, please send your suggestion to the Managing Editor (Sean Conway; sc@iucr.org).

Forthcoming special issue

Acta Crystallographica Section C is planning a special issue on the topic listed below with the aim of expanding the scope and authorship of the journal. Authors wishing to submit articles for this issue should first read the Notes for authors and the online submission instructions. Further information on the special issue can be obtained by contacting either the Guest Editor(s) or the Managing Editor (Sean Conway; sc@iucr.org).

Halogen, chalcogen, pnictogen and tetrel bonds: structural chemistry and beyond (to be published in 2022)

Guest editors: Lee Brammer (University of Sheffield, UK; e-mail: lee.brammer@sheffield.ac.uk), Tom Roseveare (University of Sheffield, UK; e-mail: tom.roseveare@sheffield.ac.uk) and Anssi Peuronen (University of Sheffield, UK, and University of Turku, Finland; e-mail: anssi.peuronen@sheffield.ac.uk)

The special issue will focus on studies of halogen bonds, chalcogen bonds, pnictogen bonds, tetrel bonds and related intermolecular interactions, sometimes also referred to as sigma-hole interactions, in which main group elements act as directional Lewis acids trans to their sigma-bonds. As the remit of the journal is aligned with structural chemistry, the focus of the special issue will be on the relationship of structure and of structural chemistry to this pervasive class of interactions. Although in the minds of some, structural chemistry may invoke only crystal structures, this is too narrow a definition. The special issue will undoubtedly involve examples in which crystal structures play a prominent role, but will embrace spectroscopic and computational studies, and studies of applications of the aforementioned intermolecular interactions in which structure or structural chemistry has a defining role.

The special issue aims not to provide a home for a collection of orphan X-ray crystal structures that happen to contain a halogen bond. Rather the special issue aims to provide a focus for a collection of papers in which structure has an important role to play in the narrative of halogen bonds, chalcogen bonds, pnictogen bonds, tetrel bonds and related intermolecular interactions.

Previously published special issues

Acta Crystallographica Section C has published four special issues on the topics listed below with the aim of expanding the scope and authorship of the journal. It is hoped that the special issues will demonstrate to the scientific community the style of papers that the journal is now inviting. Acta Crystallographica Section C: Structural Chemistry is the journal of choice for publishing any interesting research enabled by the determination, calculation or analysis of small-molecule crystal and molecular structures in the chemical sciences.

Scorpionates (September 2013)

View issue

Guest editor: Glenn Yap (University of Delaware, USA; e-mail: gpyap@udel.edu)

This issue includes contributions from some of the best authors in the field of this chemically important family of prolific and work-horse ligands wherein the structure has a palpable effect on reactivity.

Pharmaceuticals, drug discovery and natural products (November 2013)

View issue

Guest editor: Chris Frampton (Pharmorphix Solid State Services, Cambridge, UK; e-mail: chris.frampton@sialcom)

This issue addresses and discusses the timeless questions of polymorphism, stereochemistry and H-atom position, and the structural data presented originates not just from X-ray analyses, but also from NMR and computational studies, thus demonstrating the widened scope of the journal.

Interplay of crystallography, spectroscopy and theoretical methods for solving chemical problems (December 2013)

View issue

Guest editors: Larry Falvello (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain; e-mail: falvello@unizar.es) and Alberto Albinati (Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italy; e-mail: alberto.albinati@unimi.it)

This issue presents research articles and scientific comments demonstrating that the vast utility of structure determination is manifest in other techniques in addition to single-crystal diffraction analysis, and that a description of structure can derive immense leverage from physical measurements and computational modelling.

Computational materials discovery (February 2014)

View issue

Guest editor: Artem Oganov (State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA; e-mail: artem.oganov@sunysb.edu)

This issue highlights the two most important breakthroughs of this field, i.e. crystal structure prediction and electronic structure calculations, and their applications to specific problems of materials science.

Scorpionates: a golden anniversary (November 2016)

View issue

Guest editors: Glenn Yap (University of Delaware, USA; e-mail: gpyap@udel.edu) and Kiyoshi Fujisawa (Ibaraki University, Bunkyo, Mito, Japan; e-mail: kiyoshi.fujisawa.sci@vc.ibaraki.ac.jp)

The year 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the discovery of scorpionates by Swiatoslaw `Jerry' Trofimenko. The papers in this special issue clearly show that scorpionate chemistry remains relevant, exciting, and productive.

NMR crystallography (March 2017)

View issue

Guest editors: David Bryce (University of Ottawa, Canada; e-mail: dbryce@uottawa.ca) and Francis Taulelle (Universite de Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, France; francis.taulelle@uvsq.fr)

The term `crystallography', in its broadest sense, refers to obtaining structural information on crystals and related solids. Diffraction-based methods continue to play an enormous role in this area of research. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has, however, from its earliest days, also provided structural information on both crystalline and amorphous samples. The contributions to this special issue serve as an excellent introduction to the power and scope of NMR crystallographic methods and applications.

Polyoxometalates (POMs) (November 2018)

View issue

Guest editors: José Ramón Galán-Mascarós (Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Spain; e-mail: jrgalan@iciq.es) and Ulrich Kortz (Jacobs University, Germany; e-mail: u.kortz@jacobs-university.de)

The development of polyoxometalate (POM) chemistry during the last half-century or so has benefitted tremendously from single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Besides structural aspects, the study of the physicochemical properties of POMs has developed tremendously in recent decades. The multitude of attractive properties includes controllable size, composition, charge density, redox potential, acid strength, high thermal stability in the solid state, solubility in polar/nonpolar solvents and reversible electron/proton storage. Such versatility renders POMs of interest for academic and industrial applications, especially in catalysis. The contributions to this special issue on POMs provide an excellent overview of the current state of the subject, as well as providing updates to current reseach.