Chalcogen bonding in materials chemistry

This review examines recent literature in search for evidence of the influence that chalcogen bonding has on the structure and properties of functional materials. Key examples from research on charge transfer salts, neutral heterocyclic free radicals, and paramagnetic coordination compounds are highlighted as intermolecular interactions are critical to properties such as conductivity and magnetic response. Other cases reviewed include the influence of chalcogen bonding on optical properties such as the electronic absorption spectra and the nonlinear optical response of non-centrosymmetric crystal structures. There is also evidence that this type of interaction between molecules translates into macroscopic mechanical properties such as the bulk modulus.