198 Topics in Current Chemistry Editorial Board: A. de Meijere KN ...

134 Y. Aoyama
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Symmetry-Controlled 3D Nets
Infinite 3D networks are found in many inorganic crystals. They are characterised
by the symmetry elements of constituent atoms or ions. One approach to crystal
engineering is to construct organic lattices having the same intermolecular topologies
as the interatomic or interionic topologies of target inorganic lattices.
Diamond (5, Fig. 1), for example, consists of tetrahedral carbon atoms which
are directly linked by covalent C-C bonds. If these C atoms are replaced by molecules
which interact with each other in a tetrahedral fashion, we will have a
molecule-based diamondoid lattice. The simplest remarkable example is ice (6)
(Fig. 1), where oxygen atoms form a diamond-like framework with intermole-
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Fig. 1. Structure of diamond (5) and diamondoid lattices (6–13)
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