title: The rich stereochemistry of eight-vertex polyhedra: a continuous shape measures study.
abstract: A stereochemical study of polyhedral eight-vertex structures is presented, based on continuous shape measures (CShM). Reference polyhedra, shape maps, and minimal-distortion interconversion paths are presented for eight-vertex polyhedral and polygonal structures within the CShM framework. The application of these stereochemical tools is analyzed for several families of experimental structures: 1) coordination polyhedra of molecular transition-metal coordination compounds, classified by electron configuration and ligands; 2) edge-bonded polyhedra, including cubane structures, realgar, and metal clusters; 3) octanuclear transition-metal supramolecular architectures; and 4) coordination polyhedra in extended structures in inorganic solids. Structural classification is shown to be greatly facilitated by these tools, and the detection of less common structures, such as the gyrobifastigium, is straightforward.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Inorgànica and Centre de Recerca en Química Teòrica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Casanova
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Llunell
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alemany
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alvarez