Molecular Aggregation

Winner of the 2007 Trueblood Award of the American Crystallographic Association

The book is divided in two parts, to supply first the basic elements of the language, with short but complete explanations of terms, methods and theories; and then to describe the present status of studies on the processes by which organic molecules aggregate to form observable bodies and to determine their physical and chemical properties.This book is divided in two parts. Part I provides a brief but accurate summary of all the basic ideas, theories, methods, and conspicuous results of structure analysis and molecular modelling of the condensed phases of organic compounds: quantum chemistry, the intermolecular potential, force field and molecular dynamics methods, structural correlation, and thermodynamics. This Part is written in simple and intuitive form, so that the reader may easily find there the essential background for the discussions in the second part. Part II exposes the present status of studies in the analysis, categorization, prediction and control, at a molecular level, of intermolecular interactions in liquids, solutions, mesophases, and crystals. The main focus is here on the links between energies, structures, and chemical or physical properties.