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IUCr journals

Special issues

Halogen bonding This special issue of Acta Cryst. B (http://journals.iucr.org/b/issues/2017/02/00/) presents a selection of the research presented at the 2nd International Symposium on Halogen Bonding, ISXB-2 (Gothenburg, Sweden; June 2016), highlighting some of the main advances. Although the halogen bond was identified some 200 years ago by Jean-Jacques Colin - with the first rational application of the interaction winning Odd Hassel the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1969 - the field of halogen bonding has only recently become a hot research area. It is also renowned for its friendly openness to various scientific fields, which were well represented at ISXB-2: fundamental and computational chemistry, crystal engineering, biochemistry and molecular biology, liquid systems and applications. The Guest Editors, Mate Erdelyi and Pierangelo Metrangolo, hope the issue will draw the attention of the broad scientific community and raise the interest of many to enter this exciting field and contribute to the upcoming ISXB-3, which will take place in Greenville, SC, USA, in June 2018.

NMR crystallography Recognising the requirement for closer integration of NMR with other methods of studying crystalline materials, the IUCr Commission on NMR Crystallography and Related Methods (http://www.iucr.org/resources/commissions/nmr-crystallography) was established at the Montreal General Assembly in August 2014. Now, after discussions between the Commission and IUCr Journals, Acta Cryst. C has published its first special issue on NMR crystallography: http://journals.iucr.org/c/issues/2017/03/00/. Guest-edited by David Bryce [who will be delivering a Keynote Lecture on solid-state NMR of materials at IUCr2017 (www.iucr2017.org/program/scientific-program/key-notes/)] and Francis Taulelle, Chair of the Commission, this issue serves as an excellent introduction to the power and scope of NMR crystallographic methods and applications.

Protein-ligand complexes: understanding biological chemistry Despite their crucial role in biochemical processes, ligands have been the poor relations of protein crystallography. However, in recent years interdisciplinary collaborations as well as developments in hardware and software have improved the study of protein-ligand complexes. In recognition of this, the subject of the 2016 CCP4 Study Weekend (Nottingham, UK; January 2016) was Protein-ligand complexes: understanding biological chemistry. The proceedings of this meeting have now been published in the February and March 2017 issues of Acta Cryst. D (http://journals.iucr.org/d/issues/2017/02/00/ and http://journals.iucr.org/d/issues/2017/03/00/). Guest Editors Charles Ballard, Judit Debreczeni and Paul Emsley hope the concepts and tools described in these open-access issues will contribute to further improvements in generating protein-ligand complexes and the quality of the resulting structures.

Advanced neutron scattering instrumentation: call for papers The Journal of Applied Crystallography (http://journals.iucr.org/j/) invites papers on advanced neutron scattering instrumentation to appear in a special issue planned for April 2018, which will coincide with the journal's 50th anniversary. The volume will be edited by Guest Editors Dimitri Argyriou and Andrew Allen, together with several Guest Co-editors. The deadline for paper submission is September 1, 2017. Please go to http://doi.org/b6d9 for more information and submission instructions.