When aggregation becomes the norm: interpreting experiments beyond their molecules
4 affiliations
- 1University of Groningen
- 2IMDEA Nanoscience
- 3Université de Strasbourg
- 4University Of Groningen
Abstract
Chemical theory and the interpretation of experiments are typically articulated in terms of individual molecules. In the condensed phase, this approach is less generally applicable than commonly believed: phases, aggregates and clusters abound. But without an indication if and when to look for them, they tend to escape the chemist’s eye and consideration. Nonetheless, assemblies of even a handful of molecules show behaviour that resembles that of bulk phases rather than of individual molecules. We review illustrative examples and revisit general scientific laws for assemblies. We then illustrate how they apply to surprisingly common experimental situations, and outline some methodology and general cues for detecting phase behaviour that could otherwise remain hidden. We conclude that analysis in terms of phases enables straightforward interpretation of behaviour that can otherwise be quite perplexing.
Related
- Aggregation-Induced Polarization (AIP) of Racemic and Achiral Organic Molecules Leading to Asymmetric Elliptical Polarization Displaying Optical Rotation
- Beyond Atom Pairs: Multicenter Crystal Orbital Hamilton Populations for Molecules and Solids
- Beyond Organic Molecules: MetalLipoDB, a Lipophilicity Dataset for Metal Complexes and Machine Learning Benchmarks
- Interpreting the Hall effect of highly doped conducting polymers
- Interpreting Public-Dataset SOH Benchmarks: A Systematic Review of Evaluation Protocols and Reproducibility Evidence
BibTeX
@misc{blokhuis2026when,
title = {{When aggregation becomes the norm: interpreting experiments beyond their molecules}},
author = {Alex Blokhuis and Yannick Geiger and Sijbren Otto},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-6pl69/v2},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-6pl69/v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - When aggregation becomes the norm: interpreting experiments beyond their molecules
AU - Alex Blokhuis
AU - Yannick Geiger
AU - Sijbren Otto
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-6pl69/v2
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-6pl69/v2
AB - Chemical theory and the interpretation of experiments are typically articulated in terms of individual molecules. In the condensed phase, this approach is less generally applicable than commonly believed: phases, aggregates and clusters abound. But without an indication if and when to look for them, they tend to escape the chemist’s eye and consideration. Nonetheless, assemblies of even a handful of molecules show behaviour that resembles that of bulk phases rather than of individual molecules. We review illustrative examples and revisit general scientific laws for assemblies. We then illustrate how they apply to surprisingly common experimental situations, and outline some methodology and general cues for detecting phase behaviour that could otherwise remain hidden. We conclude that analysis in terms of phases enables straightforward interpretation of behaviour that can otherwise be quite perplexing.
ER -