Crystal engineering or crystal mysticism? A case study

The de novo design and synthesis of a crystalline motif of a substance is a holy grail for a growing number of organic and inorganic synthetic chemists. Achievement of targeted architectural arrangements is less reliable as the complexity increases. Simple substitution of, for example, alkyl pendant groups with homologues1 are most prone to success. Enthusiasts in this area have dubbed this evolving realm of research as 'crystal engineering,'2 and 'reticular chemistry,' as "...the practice of logical synthesis must begin with knowledge of the target network 'blueprint' and identification of the required building blocks for its assembly. The process is central to our ability to achieve true design of solid state materials: we refer to its implementation as reticular chemistry."3 The flurry of activity has led to a plethora of fascinating new structures and materials, many conferences, symposia, monographs, and scientific papers in all of the leading journals, not to mention a glut of new jargon.