Cover Picture: Laves Phases, γ‐Brass, and 2×2×2 Superstructures: A New Class of Quasicrystal Approximants and the Suggestion of a New Quasicrystal (Chem. Eur. J. 22/2008)

Abstract

Reversible binding of CO2 …︁ can be realized with borane–phosphane frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs). In their Communication on , G. Erker et al. describe how the greenhouse gas CO2 is captured to form both cyclic and acyclic adducts through PC and OB bond formation. The reaction is reversed and CO2 released when the temperature of the solution is raised. Theoretical analysis describes CO2 binding by FLPs as a synchronous concerted reaction.

Nanocluster Model of Intermetallic Compounds with Giant Unit Cells: β, β′-Mg2Al3 Polymorphs

“…Three-dimensional microframework can be obtained from the microlayers by their stacking ABCDABCD... along the perpendicular direction with 90°rotation (Figure 4e). This model differs from the building of three-dimensional β-W by that the stacking layers are undulated and compose the whole structure, while in β-W/bte there are other atoms (arranged as 4 4 -sql) between the stacking ABAB... layers. 1 The microframework consists of eight suprapolyhedral nanocluster-precursors (4AB 2 þ4AB 2 ); it can be considered as a minimal 3D nucleus that predetermines subsequent growth of the crystal macrostructure.…”

“…The complexity of some intermetallic compounds is well-known to crystal chemists, and many scientists have attempted to find a common way to describe them; nonetheless, a uniquely accepted descriptive approach to their three-dimensional intricate structures is still lacking. , Many different descriptions in terms of polyhedron packing have been reported and yet recently Stephen Lee group tackled the “enigma of complex intermetallic structures” via higher dimensional space trying to answer the question: “Is there some pattern to these complex crystal structures that eludes the casual observer, but which can explain essential features of their structures?” , In contrast, recently we proposed − a rigorous analytical procedure ( nanocluster method ) that provides a universal and objective approach to modeling of intermetallic compounds of any complexity in real space as an assembly of nanoclusters according to a set of formal criteria. The nanocluster method was algorithmized and implemented into the program package TOPOS that allowed us to apply it to some highly complicated intermetallics.…”