'Closest packing' in inorganic coordination crystals

Packing density in photonic crystals

Colouring crystals with inorganic nanoparticles.

A simple, one-pot method is presented whereby gold nanoparticles coated with a zwitterionic diblock copolymer are incorporated within single crystals of calcite. This may provide a versatile alternative to dyeing crystal with organic molecules and could be extended to create a series of new nanocomposite crystals with novel properties.

Finite-Size Effects on the Closest Packing of Hard Spheres

We study closely packed crystalline structures formed by slow lateral compression of a colloidal suspension of hard spheres in a thin wedge. In addition to the known sequence of structural transitions, a buckling mechanism was recently proposed to maximize the packing fraction F between one and two layers. We here confirm this prediction experimentally and present the first evidence that for mo...

Coordination Aspects in Modern Inorganic Chemistry

Abstract: Main types of coordination compounds in modern inorganic chemistry are discussed. Principal synthesis techniques for metal complexes and the problem of competitive coordination of ambident hard-soft ligands are discussed. A considerable attention is paid to polyfunctional materials, obtained on the basis of coordination compounds, especially molecular magnetics, organic light-emitting...

Crystal packing analysis of Rhodopsin crystals.

Oligomerization has been proposed as one of several mechanisms to regulate the activity of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), but little is known about the structure of GPCR oligomers. Crystallographic analyses of two new crystal forms of rhodopsin reveal an interaction surface which may be involved in the formation of functional dimers or oligomers. New crystallization conditions lead to the...