Sarah L. Price

Significant progress in predicting the crystal structures of small organic molecules – a report on the fourth blind test

We report on the organization and outcome of the fourth blind test of crystal structure prediction, an international collaborative project organized to evaluate the present state in computational methods of predicting the crystal structures of small organic molecules. There were 14 research groups which took part, using a variety of methods to generate and rank the most likely crystal structures for four target systems: three single-component crystal structures and a 1:1 cocrystal. Participants were challenged to predict the crystal structures of the four systems, given only their molecular diagrams, while the recently determined but as-yet unpublished crystal structures were withheld by an independent referee. Three predictions were allowed for each system. The results demonstrate a dramatic improvement in rates of success over previous blind tests; in total, there were 13 successful predictions and, for each of the four targets, at least two groups correctly predicted the observed crystal structure. The successes include one participating group who correctly predicted all four crystal structures as their first ranked choice, albeit at a considerable computational expense. The results reflect important improvements in modelling methods and suggest that, at least for the small and fairly rigid types of molecules included in this blind test, such calculations can be constructively applied to help understand crystallization and polymorphism of organic molecules.

Towards crystal structure prediction of complex organic compounds – a report on the fifth blind test

The results of the fifth blind test of crystal structure prediction, which show important success with more challenging large and flexible molecules, are presented and discussed.

Crystal structure prediction of small organic molecules: a second blind test.

The first collaborative workshop on crystal structure prediction (CSP1999) has been followed by a second workshop (CSP2001) held at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. The 17 participants were given only the chemical diagram for three organic molecules and were invited to test their prediction programs within a range of named common space groups. Several different computer programs were used, using the methodology wherein a molecular model is used to construct theoretical crystal structures in given space groups, and prediction is usually based on the minimum calculated lattice energy. A maximum of three predictions were allowed per molecule. The results showed two correct predictions for the first molecule, four for the second molecule and none for the third molecule (which had torsional flexibility). The correct structure was often present in the sorted low-energy lists from the participants but at a ranking position greater than three. The use of non-indexed powder diffraction data was investigated in a secondary test, after completion of the ab initio submissions. Although no one method can be said to be completely reliable, this workshop gives an objective measure of the success and failure of current methodologies.

Innovation in crystal engineering

The first CrystEngComm discussion meeting on crystal engineering has demonstrated that the field has reached maturity in some areas (for example: design strategies, characterization of solid compounds, topological analysis of weak and strong non-covalent interactions), while the quest for novel properties engineered at molecular and supramolecular levels has only recently begun and the need for further research efforts is strongly felt. This Highlight article aims to provide a forward look and a constructive discussion of the prospects for future developments of crystal engineering as a bridge between supramolecular and molecular materials chemistry.

The electrostatic interactions in van der Waals complexes involving aromatic molecules

The minima in the electrostatic energy, for accessible orientations, have been located for the s‐tetrazine and benzene dimers and the 1:1 complexes of s‐tetrazine with hydrogen chloride, water, acetylene, and benzene, and of benzene with acetylene, anthracene, and perylene. The minima give reasonably successful predictions of the structures of these van der Waals molecules, demonstrating the importance of the electrostatic interactions in these systems. The electrostatic energy was calculated using sets of distributed multipoles obtained from ab initio wave functions of the monomers. This method is contrasted with empirical point charge and central multipole models for the electrostatic energy. It is shown that the simple models for the electrostatic interactions can give qualitatively misleading results for aromatic systems.

Explicit formulae for the electrostatic energy, forces and torques between a pair of molecules of arbitrary symmetry

The spherical multipole expansion has been used to derive explicit expressions for the terms up to and including R -5 in the R -1 expansion of the electrostatic energy of two molecules of arbitrary symmetry, in a simple form which is suitable for use in model potentials. We show also how the corresponding forces and torques can be readily derived from these energy expressions, and give explicitly the forces and torques which would be required for a molecular dynamics simulation of a fluid of linear molecules.

Grid Service Orchestration using the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)

Modern scientific applications often need to be distributed across Grids. Increasingly applications rely on services, such as job submission, data transfer or data portal services. We refer to such services as Grid services. While the invocation of Grid services could be hard coded in theory, scientific users want to orchestrate service invocations more flexibly. In enterprise applications, the orchestration of web services is achieved using emerging orchestration standards, most notably the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). We describe our experience in orchestrating scientific workflows using BPEL. We have gained this experience during an extensive case study that orchestrates Grid services for the automation of a polymorph prediction application. Using this example, we explain the extent with which the BPEL language supports the definition of scientific workflows. We then describe the reliability, performance and scalability that can be achieved by executing a complex scientific workflow with ActiveBPEL, an industrial strength but freely available BPEL engine.

THE RELAXATION OF MOLECULAR CRYSTAL STRUCTURES USING A DISTRIBUTED MULTIPOLE ELECTROSTATIC MODEL

We describe a method for minimizing the lattice energy of molecular crystal structures, using a realistic anisotropic atom–atom model for the intermolecular forces. Molecules are assumed to be rigid, and the structure is described by the center of mass positions and orientational parameters for each molecule in the unit cell, as well as external strain parameters used to optimize the cell geometry. The resulting program uses a distributed multipole description of the electrostatic forces, which consists of sets of atomic multipoles (charge, dipole, quadrupole, etc.) to represent the lone pair, π electron density, and other nonspherical features in the atomic charge distribution. Such ab initio based, electrostatic models are essential for describing the orientation dependence of the intermolecular forces, including hydrogen bonding, between polar molecules. Studies on a range of organic crystals containing hydrogen bonds are used to illustrate the use of this new crystal structure relaxation program, DMAREL, and show that it provides a promising new approach to studying the crystal packing of polar molecules.

Report on the sixth blind test of organic crystal structure prediction methods

The results of the sixth blind test of organic crystal structure prediction methods are presented and discussed, highlighting progress for salts, hydrates and bulky flexible molecules, as well as on-going challenges.

A strategy for producing predicted polymorphs: catemeric carbamazepine form V.

A computationally assisted approach has enabled the first catemeric polymorph of carbamazepine (form V) to be selectively formed by templating the growth of carbamazepine from the vapour phase onto the surface of a crystal of dihydrocarbamazepine form II.