The Egg-Shaped Crystals That Should Not Be: A Brain-like Texture Combined with Single Crystallinity

We demonstrate here a unique metallo-organic material where the appearance and the internal crystal structure contradict. The egg-shaped (ovoid) crystals have a "brain-like" texture. Although these micro-sized crystals are monodispersed; like fingerprints the grainy surfaces are never alike. Remarkable, our X-ray and electron diffraction studies unexpectedly revealed that these structures are single crystals comprising a continuous coordination network of homochiral hexagonal and triangular channels. By applying different reaction condition, a series of isostructural and monodisperse crystals were obtained having a monodomain appearance. These results indicate that families of isostructural crystals following the established rules for crystal growth contain hidden gems to be discovered with fascinating multidomain morphologies.