name

Names may be any of a variety commonly used. Thus the net with symbol srs is often called SrSi₂ or (10-3)-a; cab is CaB₆. Mineral names are often used for nets of either the underlying framework (quartz, feldspar) or the entire structure (rutile, pyrite). Obviously it is not desirable to have a proliferation of names, so not all names that are known by the database are shown.

For some structures we also give the Fischer symbol as a name. These symbols apply to vertex-transitive sphere packings and are of the sort p/q/rn where p is the coordination number, q is the smallest ring size, r is a symbol for the crystal system (c = cubic, t = tetragonal, h = hexagonal) and n is a serial number for given pqr. See the About page for references to Fischer's work.

The following symbols are for coordination figures:

3 triangle
S square
T tetrahedron
Q square pyramid
O octahedron
P trigonal prism
H hexagon
C cube
X hexagonal prism
B cuboctahedron
U truncated tetrahedron
K truncated octahedron
R rhombicuboctahedron

One may search for nets with approximately regular coordination figures A and B by entering names with the name “AB net” where A and B are one of the above symbols for coordination figure (e.g. 3T net or ST net). For nets with only A linked to B and B linked to A use also the keyword “bipartite”. Three-symbol sequences are also possible as in “3ST net”. Coordination symbols must be in the above order. Using “bipartite” will now limit the selection to nets ABC with e.g. only A-B and A-C links.

Names also function as specialized keywords. For example one may find tilings with certain large (20 or more faces) tiles by entering a "name": (these “names” generally don’t appear on the page of the net).

name	face symbol	RCSR symbol
alpha cage	[4^12.6^8.6^6]	tcz
FAU cage	[4^18.6^4.12^4]	fac
TSC cage	[4^24.6^8.8^18]	tsz
icosahedron	[3^20]	ico
C60	[5^12.6^20]	tic
hexagonal barrel	[5^12.6^8]	hxb
tennis ball	[5^12.6^8]	tbl

Other special "names":

carbon

Structures of special interest suggested for carbon.

schwartzite

3-c net carried by a tiling of a periodic minimal surface.

silica

retrieves nets of known tectosilicates (such as coesite, feldspar) and related tetrahedral nets (e.g. that of CaGa₂O₄) other than recognized zeolite nets.

square

retrieves 4-coordinated nets with square coordination of all vertices.

xyz-derived and xyz-related

gives nets derived from xyz by splitting some vertices into combinations of lower coordination. For example tfa is derived from dia by splitting half the tetrahedral vertices into pairs of triangular ones and is retrieved by the name "dia-derived". Starting from a net AB the k-coordinated vertex B is replaced by a group with k links to A vertices. If instead the vertex B is replaced by a group with e.g. 2k links to A vertices, the new net is described as “xyz-related”. See Chem. Rev. 114, 1343 (2014) for a discussion of derived nets. They are relevant to the description of the nets of MOFs with branched polytopic linkers.