# CrystalExplorer

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Crystal structure analysis software

CrystalExplorer Screenshot of generated Hirshfeld surface in CrystalExplorer17 Original authors D Jayatilaka and MA Spackman Release 2007; 19 years ago (2007) Stable release CrystalExplorer 21 / 2021; 5 years ago (2021) Operating system Windows 10/11 (64 bit), Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, MacOS 10.13+ License free-of-charge (Conditions applicable) Website crystalexplorer.net

**CrystalExplorer** (**CE**) is a freeware designed to analysis the [crystal structure](/source/Crystal_structure) with [*.cif](/source/Crystallographic_Information_File) file format.[1]

CE is helpful to investigate different areas of [solid-state chemistry](/source/Solid-state_chemistry) such as [Hirshfeld surface](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hirshfeld_surface&action=edit&redlink=1) analysis, [intermolecular interactions](/source/Intermolecular_Forces), [polymorphism](/source/Polymorphism_(materials_science)), effect of pressure and temperature on [crystal structure](/source/Crystal_structures), [single-crystal](/source/Single_crystal) to single-crystal reactions, analyzing the voids present in crystal, and structure-property relationships.[1][2]

The graphical interface of CE towards the 3D crystal structure visualization aids in drawing the crystal structure with or without Hirshfeld surface.[3]

## History

**CrystalExplorer** launched as a graphical user interface which facilitates the visualization of interactions in molecular crystal structures. In 2006, M. A. Spackman's student Dylan Jayatilaka and coworkers presented a paper about their new crystallographic software in the occasion of 23rd European Crystallographic Meeting (ECM23) conducted in Leuven.[4] This software was designed by School of Biomedical and Chemical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6009, Australia. From 2006 onward researchers started citing the program in their research papers.[5]

**CrystalExplorer 2.1** designed for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux platforms for the analysis of crystal structures and can be used to investigate many areas of solid-state chemistry such as studying [intermolecular interactions](/source/Intermolecular_interactions), [polymorphism](/source/Polymorphism_(materials_science)), the effects of pressure and temperature on [crystal structures](/source/Crystal_structure), single-crystal to single-crystal reactions, analyzing crystal voids, structure-property relationships,[6] isostructural compounds,[7] and calculate intermolecular interaction energies.[8]

Currently in 2020 September, there are more than 2000 research papers that cite CrystalExplorer software as per google scholar analysis.[5]

## Licence

CrystalExplorer17 is licensed free-of-charges under conditions, such as not using the free version of CrystalExplorer to conduct commercial or confidential research, or research that is not likely to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.[9]

## See also

- [Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre](/source/Cambridge_Crystallographic_Data_Centre)

- [Crystallographic Information File](/source/Crystallographic_Information_File)

- [International Union of Crystallography](/source/International_Union_of_Crystallography)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-CEWeb_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-CEWeb_1-1) ["CrystalExplorer Main Page"](https://web.archive.org/web/20200307141005/https://crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au/wiki/index.php/Main_Page). *crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au*. Archived from [the original](https://crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Spackman, Mark A.; Jayatilaka, Dylan (21 November 2008). ["Hirshfeld surface analysis"](https://pubs.rsc.org/ko/content/articlehtml/2009/ce/b818330a#cit14). *CrystEngComm*. **11**: 19. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1039/B818330A](https://doi.org/10.1039%2FB818330A).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Mackenzie, Campbell F.; Spackman, Peter R.; Jayatilaka, Dylan; Spackman, Mark A. (4 July 2017). ["CrystalExplorer model energies and energy frameworks: extension to metal coordination compounds, organic salts, solvates and open-shell systems"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5600021). *IUCrJ*. **4** (Pt 5): 575–587. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1107/S205225251700848X](https://doi.org/10.1107%2FS205225251700848X). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [2052-2525](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2052-2525). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [5600021](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5600021). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [28932404](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28932404).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["CrystalExplorer: a tool for displaying Hirshfeld surfaces and visualising intermolecular interactions in molecular crystals"](http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S0108767306098199). *Acta Crystallogr*. **A62**: s90. 2006.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ee_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ee_5-1) ["Google Scholar"](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=CrystalExplorer+&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5). *scholar.google.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["CrystalExplorer 2.1 - CrystalExplorer is a fully-featured molecular crystal visualization tool"](https://crystalexplorer.software.informer.com/2.1/). *software.informer.com*. software.informer.com.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ar_7-0)** Arunkumar, Chellaiah (13 April 2014). ["Quantitative crystal structure analysis of fluorinated porphyrins"](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022113914000931). *Journal of Fluorine Chemistry*. **163**: 16–22. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.jfluchem.2014.04.002](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jfluchem.2014.04.002).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Spackman, P. R.; Spackman, M. A. (18 March 2021). ["CrystalExplorer: a program for Hirshfeld surface analysis, visualization and quantitative analysis of molecular crystals"](https://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S1600576721002910). *J. Appl. Crystallogr*. **54** (3): 1006–1011. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1107/S1600576721002910](https://doi.org/10.1107%2FS1600576721002910). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [8202033](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8202033). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [34188619](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34188619).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["CrystalExplorer - Licensing"](https://web.archive.org/web/20200307132543/https://crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au/licence.html). *crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au*. Archived from [the original](https://crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au/licence.html) on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.

## External links

- [Official website](https://crystalexplorer.scb.uwa.edu.au/index.html/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [CrystalExplorer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrystalExplorer) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrystalExplorer?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.