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Updated: Aug 12, 2025
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Color polymorphism in organic crystals
Bernardo A Nogueira1,2, Chiara Castiglioni3, Rui Fausto4,5
1CQC, Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, P-3004-535, Coimbra, Portugal. ban@qui.uc.pt.
Abstract:
Color polymorphism is an interesting property of chemical systems which present crystal polymorphs of different colors. It is a rare phenomenon, with only a few examples reported in the literature hitherto. Nevertheless, systems exhibiting color polymorphism have many potential applications in different domains, such as pigment, sensor, and technology industries. Here, known representative chemical systems showing color polymorphism are reviewed, and the reasons for them to present such property discussed. Also, since some of the concepts related to color polymorphism have been frequently used imprecisely in the scientific literature, this article provides concise, systematic definitions for these concepts.
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