Isostructurality in one and two dimensions: isostructurality of polymorphs

A set of polymorphic crystal structures was retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database in order to estimate the frequency of isostructurality among polymorphs. Altogether, 50 structures, the polymorphs of 22 compounds, were investigated. It was found that one-, two- or three-dimensional isostructurality is exhibited by approximately half of the compounds analyzed. Among the isostructural polymorphs, the frequency of one-, two- and three-dimensional isostructurality is similar. From the examples, it appears that three-dimensional isostructurality is connected to the gradual ordering of crystal structures, while one- and two-dimensional isostructurality can often be related to specific packing interactions. The possibility of many similar interactions seems to decrease the probability of the occurrence of isostructural polymorphs. Conformational polymorphs do not exhibit isostructurality.