Making carboxyl(ate) friends
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 14:30
in Physics & Chemistry
When it comes to supramolecular chemistry, the carboxylic acid group (and its conjugate carboxylate base) is one of the chemist's most flexible friends. In pairs, they act as supramolecular synthons from which more complicated structures might be built but also offer up complex hydrogen bond connectivity. Luigi D'Ascenzo and Pascal Auffinger of the University of Strasbourg, France point out that until now there has been no exhaustive classification of these carboxyl(ate) motifs present in crystal structures, despite their prevalence and the fact that carboxyl(ate)s are among the most well-studied hydrogen bonding groups.