Metric Engineering of Crystalline Inclusion Compounds by Structural Mimicry

The structural robustness and flexibility of hydrogen-bonded host frameworks are exploited to produce inclusion compounds (such as that shown in the picture) with host–guest organization that mimics, almost exactly, the packing features that are innate to the crystal structures of the respective pure guests. Using only the lattice parameters that define the two-dimensional herringbone packing motif in crystals of these guests, the crystalline architecture and specific metric parameters of corresponding inclusion compounds can be reliably predicted.