Metal-based gels: Synthesis, properties, and applications (2023)
Journal Article
Picci, G., Caltagirone, C., Garau, A., Lippolis, V., Milia, J., & Steed, J. W. (2023). Metal-based gels: Synthesis, properties, and applications. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 492, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2023.215225

This review covers various aspects of recent developments on the design, the synthesis, the characterization of gels that: (i) are formed in the presence of metal ions (metallogels); (ii) are based on coordination complexes as gelators. Particular at... Read More about Metal-based gels: Synthesis, properties, and applications.

Vapor Sorption and Halogen-Bond-Induced Solid-Form Rearrangement of a Porous Pharmaceutical (2023)
Journal Article
Andrews, J. L., Yufit, D. S., McCabe, J. F., Fox, M. A., & Steed, J. W. (2023). Vapor Sorption and Halogen-Bond-Induced Solid-Form Rearrangement of a Porous Pharmaceutical. Crystal Growth and Design, 23(4), 2628-2633. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c01464

A porous, nonsolvated polymorph of the voltage-gated sodium channel blocker mexiletine hydrochloride absorbs iodine vapor to give a pharmaceutical cocrystal incorporating an I2Cl– anion that forms a halogen−π interaction with the mexiletine cations.... Read More about Vapor Sorption and Halogen-Bond-Induced Solid-Form Rearrangement of a Porous Pharmaceutical.

Highly Thermally Resistant Bisamide Gelators as Pharmaceutical Crystallization Media (2022)
Journal Article
Torres-Moya, I., Sánchez, A., Saikia, B., Yufit, D. S., Prieto, P., Carrillo, J. R., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Highly Thermally Resistant Bisamide Gelators as Pharmaceutical Crystallization Media. Gels, 9(1), Article 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9010026

Three simple bisamide derivatives (G1, G2 and G3) with different structural modifications were synthesized with easy synthetic procedures in order to test their gel behaviour. The outcomes showed that hydrogen bonding was essential in gel formation;... Read More about Highly Thermally Resistant Bisamide Gelators as Pharmaceutical Crystallization Media.

Designer Gelators for the Crystallization of a Salt Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient─Mexiletine Hydrochloride (2022)
Journal Article
Andrews, J. L., Kennedy, S. R., Yufit, D. S., McCabe, J. F., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Designer Gelators for the Crystallization of a Salt Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient─Mexiletine Hydrochloride. Crystal Growth and Design, 22(11), 6775-6785. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c00925

We report an approach to obtain drug-mimetic supramolecular gelators, which are capable of stabilizing metastable polymorphs of the pharmaceutical salt mexiletine hydrochloride, a highly polymorphic antiarrhythmic drug. Solution-phase screening led t... Read More about Designer Gelators for the Crystallization of a Salt Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient─Mexiletine Hydrochloride.

Molecular clusters in confined spaces (2022)
Journal Article
Braschinsky, A., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Molecular clusters in confined spaces. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 473, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2022.214840

Confinement chemistry is a growing field with many potential applications in the synthetic, catalytic and especially pharmaceutical industries. Confinement of materials can reveal novel properties as compared to their bulk. They can also give insight... Read More about Molecular clusters in confined spaces.

Understanding the Interaction of Gluconamides and Gluconates with Amino Acids in Hair Care (2022)
Journal Article
Chambers, L. I., Yufit, D. S., Musa, O. M., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Understanding the Interaction of Gluconamides and Gluconates with Amino Acids in Hair Care. Crystal Growth and Design, 22(10), 6190-6200. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c00753

A hair care mixture formed from a gluconamide derivative and 3-hydroxypropyl ammonium gluconate is known to strengthen hair fibers; however, the mechanism by which the mixture affects hair is unknown. To give insight into the aggregation of the targe... Read More about Understanding the Interaction of Gluconamides and Gluconates with Amino Acids in Hair Care.

Integral Role of Water in the Solid-State Behavior of the Antileishmanial Drug Miltefosine (2022)
Journal Article
Hall, A. V., Gostick, I. E., Yufit, D. S., Marchant, G. Y., Kirubakaran, P., Madu, S. J., …Steed, J. W. (2022). Integral Role of Water in the Solid-State Behavior of the Antileishmanial Drug Miltefosine. Crystal Growth and Design, 22(10), 6262-6266. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c00843

Miltefosine is a repurposed anticancer drug and currently the only orally administered drug approved to treat the neglected tropical disease leishmaniasis. Miltefosine is hygroscopic and must be stored at subzero temperatures. In this work, we report... Read More about Integral Role of Water in the Solid-State Behavior of the Antileishmanial Drug Miltefosine.

Prediction and Preparation of Coamorphous Phases of a Bislactam (2022)
Journal Article
Chambers, L. I., Musa, O. M., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Prediction and Preparation of Coamorphous Phases of a Bislactam. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 19(7), 2651-2661. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.2c00357

The effectiveness of a partial least squares-discriminant analysis coamorphous prediction model was tested using coamorphous screening data for a promising coamorphous former, the dimer of N-vinyl(caprolactam) (bisVCap) with a range of active pharmac... Read More about Prediction and Preparation of Coamorphous Phases of a Bislactam.

Anion-Responsive Fluorescent Supramolecular Gels (2022)
Journal Article
Picci, G., Mulvee, M. T., Caltagirone, C., Lippolis, V., Frontera, A., Gomila, R. M., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Anion-Responsive Fluorescent Supramolecular Gels. Molecules, 27(4), Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27041257

Three novel bis-urea fluorescent low-molecular-weight gelators (LMWGs) based on the tetraethyl diphenylmethane spacer—namely, L1, L2, and L3, bearing indole, dansyl, and quinoline units as fluorogenic fragments, respectively, are able to form gel in... Read More about Anion-Responsive Fluorescent Supramolecular Gels.

The “Magic Linker”: Highly Effective Gelation from Sterically Awkward Packing (2022)
Journal Article
Smith, J. P., Yufit, D. S., McCabe, J. F., & Steed, J. W. (2022). The “Magic Linker”: Highly Effective Gelation from Sterically Awkward Packing. Crystal Growth and Design, 22(3), 1914-1921. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.1c01470

Bis(urea)s based on the 4,4′-methylenebis(2,6-diethylphenylene) (4,4′-MDEP) spacer are highly effective low molecular weight gelators, and the first single crystal structure of a bis(urea) based on this spacer is reported. The structure is a conforma... Read More about The “Magic Linker”: Highly Effective Gelation from Sterically Awkward Packing.

Anisotropic thermal expansion effects in layered n-Alkyl carboxylic acid – bipyridyl cocrystals (2021)
Journal Article
Hall, A. V., Yufit, D. S., Zhang, Y., Musa, O. M., & Steed, J. W. (2021). Anisotropic thermal expansion effects in layered n-Alkyl carboxylic acid – bipyridyl cocrystals. Supramolecular Chemistry, 33(10), https://doi.org/10.1080/10610278.2022.2117623

Cocrystallisation of butanoic acid (BA), pentanoic acid (PA), and eicosanoic acid (EA) with 4,4’-azopyridine (azp) and trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) results in 2:1 lamellar cocrystals. All cocrystals display the OH···Npyridyl seven-membered... Read More about Anisotropic thermal expansion effects in layered n-Alkyl carboxylic acid – bipyridyl cocrystals.

Structure and hydration of polyvinylpyrrolidone-hydrogen peroxide (2021)
Journal Article
Chambers, L. I., Yufit, D. S., Fox, M. A., Musa, O. M., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Structure and hydration of polyvinylpyrrolidone-hydrogen peroxide. Chemical Communications, 58(1), 80-83. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cc06047c

The structure of the commercially important polyvinylpyrrolidone-hydrogen peroxide complex can be understood by reference to the co-crystal structure of a hydrogen peroxide complex and its mixed hydrates of a two-monomer unit model compound, bisVP·2H... Read More about Structure and hydration of polyvinylpyrrolidone-hydrogen peroxide.

Biofunctionality with a twist: the importance of molecular organisation, handedness and configuration in synthetic biomaterial design (2021)
Journal Article
Hendrikse, S. I., Contreras-Montoya, R., Ellis, A. V., Thordarson, P., & Steed, J. W. (2022). Biofunctionality with a twist: the importance of molecular organisation, handedness and configuration in synthetic biomaterial design. Chemical Society Reviews, 51(1), 28-42. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cs00896j

The building blocks of life – nucleotides, amino acids and saccharides – give rise to a large variety of components and make up the hierarchical structures found in Nature. Driven by chirality and non-covalent interactions, helical and highly organis... Read More about Biofunctionality with a twist: the importance of molecular organisation, handedness and configuration in synthetic biomaterial design.

Derisking the Polymorph Landscape: The Complex Polymorphism of Mexiletine Hydrochloride (2021)
Journal Article
Andrews, J. L., Nilsson Lill, S. O., Freitag-Pohl, S., Apperley, D. C., Yufit, D. S., Batsanov, A. S., …Steed, J. W. (2021). Derisking the Polymorph Landscape: The Complex Polymorphism of Mexiletine Hydrochloride. Crystal Growth and Design, 21(12), 7150-7167. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.1c01009

This work presents an updated solid form discovery approach to the polymorphism of the anti-arrhythmic drug mexiletine hydrochloride, in which experimental and computational techniques are combined to provide a rigorous characterisation of the solid-... Read More about Derisking the Polymorph Landscape: The Complex Polymorphism of Mexiletine Hydrochloride.

Crystal Habit Modification of Metronidazole by Supramolecular Gels with Complementary Functionality (2021)
Journal Article
Jayabhavan, S. S., Steed, J. W., & Damodaran, K. K. (2021). Crystal Habit Modification of Metronidazole by Supramolecular Gels with Complementary Functionality. Crystal Growth and Design, 21(9), 5383-5393. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.1c00659

A series of bis(urea) compounds with complementary functional groups similar to the pharmaceutical drug metronidazole and a structural isomer isometronidazole have been synthesized. The gelation properties of these compounds were studied in various s... Read More about Crystal Habit Modification of Metronidazole by Supramolecular Gels with Complementary Functionality.

Enhancement of sensitivity for dichlorvos detection by a low-weight gelator based on bolaamphiphile amino acid derivatives decorated with a hybrid graphene quantum dot/enzyme/hydrogel (2021)
Journal Article
Sahub, C., Andrews, J. L., Smith, J. P., Mohamad Arif, M. A., Tomapatanaget, B., & Steed, J. W. (2021). Enhancement of sensitivity for dichlorvos detection by a low-weight gelator based on bolaamphiphile amino acid derivatives decorated with a hybrid graphene quantum dot/enzyme/hydrogel. Materials Chemistry Frontiers, 5(18), 6850-6859. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1qm00296a

Developing the sensitivity of an optical biosensor motivates the exploration of an amplification strategy for the incorporation of a biosensor system in a supramolecular hydrogel. We developed novel fluorescent hybrid materials comprising graphene qu... Read More about Enhancement of sensitivity for dichlorvos detection by a low-weight gelator based on bolaamphiphile amino acid derivatives decorated with a hybrid graphene quantum dot/enzyme/hydrogel.

Properties and Applications of Stimuli-Responsive Diacetylenes (2021)
Journal Article
Hall, A. V., Musa, O. M., & Steed, J. W. (2021). Properties and Applications of Stimuli-Responsive Diacetylenes. Crystal Growth and Design, 21(6), 3614-3638. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.1c00300

The topochemical reactivity of diacetylene monomers has long been established and involves the 1,4-addition polymerization reaction. This reaction is governed by well-defined parameters that allow the synthesis of diacetylene polymers. Polydiacetylen... Read More about Properties and Applications of Stimuli-Responsive Diacetylenes.

High-Yielding Flow Synthesis of a Macrocyclic Molecular Hinge (2021)
Journal Article
Jones, C. D., Kershaw Cook, L. J., Marquez-Gamez, D., Luzyanin, K. V., Steed, J. W., & Slater, A. G. (2021). High-Yielding Flow Synthesis of a Macrocyclic Molecular Hinge. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(19), 7553-7565. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c02891

Many molecular machines are built from modular components with well-defined motile capabilities, such as axles and wheels. Hinges are particularly useful, as they provide the minimum flexibility needed for a simple and pronounced conformational chang... Read More about High-Yielding Flow Synthesis of a Macrocyclic Molecular Hinge.

Alkali Metal Salts of 10,12-Pentacosadiynoic Acid and Their Dosimetry Applications (2021)
Journal Article
Hall, A. V., Musa, O. M., Hood, D. K., Apperley, D. C., Yufit, D. S., & Steed, J. W. (2021). Alkali Metal Salts of 10,12-Pentacosadiynoic Acid and Their Dosimetry Applications. Crystal Growth and Design, 21(4), 2416-2422. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.1c00031

Wide-dose-range 2D radiochromic films for radiotherapy, such as GAFchromic EBT, are based on the lithium salt of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (Li-PCDA) as the photosensitive component. We show that there are two solid forms of Li-PCDA—a monohydrated f... Read More about Alkali Metal Salts of 10,12-Pentacosadiynoic Acid and Their Dosimetry Applications.

Guest inclusion by Borromean weave coordination networks (2021)
Journal Article
Byrne, P., Lloyd, G. O., & Steed, J. W. (2021). Guest inclusion by Borromean weave coordination networks. Journal of Coordination Chemistry, 74(1-3), 152-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958972.2021.1875132

Reaction of N,Nʺ-ethylene-1,2-diylbis(3-pyridin-3-ylurea) (L) with AgNO3 in a variety of solvents gives a total of five 2-D Borromean weave coordination polymer networks that adopt three structural types depending on the interactions to the solvent p... Read More about Guest inclusion by Borromean weave coordination networks.