Review Non-covalent interactions in the synthesis of coordination compounds: Recent advances Kamran T. Mahmudov a,b,⇑ , Maximilian N. Kopylovich a , M. Fátima C. Guedes da Silva a , Armando J.L. Pombeiro a,⇑ a Centro de Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal b Department of Chemistry, Baku State University, Z. Xalilov Str. 23, Az 1148 Baku, Azerbaijan article info Article history: Received 30 July 2016 Received in revised form 29 August 2016 Accepted 2 September 2016 Available online xxxx Dedicated to Prof. Barry Lever as a recognition for his outstanding achievements in science and appreciation for being the Editor of the Coord. Chem. Rev. during half-century and raising this journal to such high standards. Keywords: Non-covalent interactions Synthesis Design of coordination compounds and materials abstract This review describes how non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen (inter- and intramolecular, resonance- and charge-assisted hydrogen bonding), halogen, chalcogen and pnicogen bonds, p-interactions, as well as other types of weak forces can influence and control the reactions in the synthesis, e.g., of metal-containing supramolecular networks, providing a class of highly directional stabilizing contacts that can be exploited in the design of coordination compounds. The selected recent examples show that both inter- and intramolecular non-covalent interactions can influence the formation of coordination compounds. This overview of non-covalent interactions applied for synthesis and design of coordination compounds also contributes to an improved understanding of their behavior in crystal engineering, catalysis, etc. It provides a practical consultation for synthetic chemists that are interested in exploring and further developing non-covalent interactions assisted synthesis and design of coordination compounds. Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 00 2. Hydrogen bonding ..................................................................................................... 00 2.1. Inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding .......................................................................... 00 2.2. Resonance-assisted hydrogen bonding ............................................................................... 00 2.3. Charge-assisted hydrogen bonding .................................................................................. 00 3. Halogen bonding ...................................................................................................... 00 3.1. Halogen-halogen interactions ....................................................................................... 00 3.2. Halogen-chalcogen interactions ..................................................................................... 00 3.3. Halogen-pnicogen interactions ...................................................................................... 00 3.4. Halogen-other types of donor center(s) interactions .................................................................... 00 4. Chalcogen bonding ..................................................................................................... 00 5. Pnicogen bonding ...................................................................................................... 00 6. Other types of non-covalent interactions ................................................................................... 00 7. Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 00 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 00 References ........................................................................................................... 00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2016.09.002 0010-8545/Ó 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding authors at: Centro de Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal (K.T. Mahmudov). E-mail addresses: kamran_chem@mail.ru, kamran_chem@yahoo.com (K.T. Mahmudov), pombeiro@tecnico.ulisboa.pt (A.J.L. Pombeiro). Coordination Chemistry Reviews xxx (2016) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Coordination Chemistry Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ccr Please cite this article in press as: K.T. Mahmudov et al., Non-covalent interactions in the synthesis of coordination compounds: Recent advances, Coord. Chem. Rev. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2016.09.002