Halogen bonding articles within Nature Chemistry

Featured

• Article | 31 March 2022

  Cold photo-carving of halogen-bonded co-crystals of a dye and a volatile co-former using visible light

  Halogen-bonded co-crystals of a fluorinated azobenzene derivative and a volatile co-former can be cut, carved or engraved with micrometre-scale precision using low-power visible light. The proposed mechanism involves the local evaporation of the volatile component followed by recrystallization of the azobenzene co-former near the edge of the irradiation area.

  • T. H. Borchers
  • , F. Topić
  •  & C. J. Barrett

• Article | 19 March 2018

  Experimental and computational evidence of halogen bonds involving astatine

  Halogen bonding is known to get stronger with increasing halogen polarizability, but some trends of the periodic table break down for heavy elements owing to relativistic effects. Now, through distribution coefficient measurements and relativistic quantum mechanical calculations, AtI has been shown to form stronger halogen bonds than I₂—meaning that astatine conforms to the trend.

  • Ning Guo
  • , Rémi Maurice
  •  & Nicolas Galland

• News & Views | 20 November 2014

  The I's have it

  Rotaxanes with cyclodextrin end groups have been used as a platform to investigate anion binding in water, revealing that halogen bonding can serve as the basis for molecular recognition in aqueous solvents, which may have implications in medicinal chemistry and beyond.

  • Mark S. Taylor

• Article | 17 November 2014

  Halogen bonding in water results in enhanced anion recognition in acyclic and rotaxane hosts

  The ability to achieve strong molecular recognition in water is a key challenge for supramolecular chemistry. Now, halogen bonding — the attractive interaction between an electron-deficient halogen atom and a Lewis base — has been shown to be superior to hydrogen bonding for strong anion binding in water. Ripple image: © PhotoDisc/Getty Images.

  • Matthew J. Langton
  • , Sean W. Robinson
  •  & Paul D. Beer

• News & Views | 21 August 2014

  A big hello to halogen bonding

  Halogen bonding connects a wide range of subjects — from materials science to structural biology, from computation to crystal engineering, and from synthesis to spectroscopy. The 1st International Symposium on Halogen Bonding explored the state of the art in this fast-growing field of research.

  • Mate Erdelyi

• News & Views | 22 May 2012

  Halogen and chalcogen team up

  The behaviour of di-selenol enzyme mimics indicates that a halogen bond between selenium and iodine, and a chalcogen interaction between the two selenium atoms, play an important role in the activation of thyroid hormones.

  • Pierangelo Metrangolo
  •  & Giuseppe Resnati