CrystEngComm

EDITORIAL
Cite this: DOI: 10.1039/
c4ce90064b
DOI: 10.1039/c4ce90064b
www.rsc.org/crystengcomm
2014 International year of crystallography
celebration: India
Rahul Banerjee
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 metalorganic framework
substances. Hence, the United Nations
has declared 2014 to be the International
Year of Crystallography (IYCr2014) and
the International Union of Crystallogra-
phy (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 pub-
lishing high impact research papers on
the design and understanding of solid-
state and crystalline materials, has pub-
lished 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 engineer-
ing in molecular magnetism, 2D crystal
engineering, and crystal engineering and
crystallography in the pharmaceutical
industry. There has only been one collec-
tion [New talent: Americas, 2012] that
has been constructed around a geo-
graphic region. Hence, the CrystEngComm
Editorial Board has decided to present a
collection of papers on crystal engineer-
ing research from different geographical
locations.
X-ray crystallography has always played
a crucial role in the growth and develop-
ment of the subject of crystal engineer-
ing. This includes the design of organic
and metalorganic 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 engi-
neering in India, but 810% 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 collec-
tion 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 poly-
morphism and pseudo-polymorphism
by Reddy (DOI: 10.1039/C3CE42159G),
and Thakuria and Nangia (DOI: 10.1039/
C3CE42301H); on coordination poly-
mers or metalorganic 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 pharma-
ceutical 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
CrystEngComm This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2014
Physical/Materials Chemistry Division, CSIR-National
Chemical Laboratory, Dr. HomiBhabha Road,
Pune 411008, India. E-mail: r.banerjee@ncl.res.in
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CrystEngComm This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2014
and the activities of CrystEngComm are
very bright in India. I am certainly
looking forward to watching and partici-
pating 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.
CrystEngComm Editorial
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