The Ward group has prepared
lamellar hydrogen-bonded frameworks with organic “pillars”.
Certain crystalline compounds in this family with lamellar
architectures form both smectic liquid crystal phases and
organogels, and compounds based on hexagonal arrays of
hydrogenbonded cylindrical nanotubes have been observed,
suggesting an interesting connection between organic
crystals and soft matter microstructures.
SESMI students will be
introduced to crystal engineering concepts by synthesizing
molecular building blocks and crystallizing new materials.
They also will be introduced to X-ray diffraction methods
for solid-state structure determination
