Soft Chemistry Routes to New Materials

Within the last few decades, advances in solid-state chemistry have resulted in substantial progress towards a better understanding of the solid state, and have even led to the development of some predictive capablities in crystal chemistry. Nonetheless, in more recent years, entirely new ways of thinking have appeared. The term "soft chemistry" or "chimie douce", is often applied in a general manner to refer to these new routes, these new ways of thinking.