Concomitant Polymorphs

The simultaneous appearance of polymorphs of a substance has long been recognized but rarely noted or systematically studied. This phenomenon can be useful in the investigation of solid materials and in understanding the relative crystal energetics of polymorphic materials. This review covers the thermodynamic and kinetic factors that govern competitive and concomitant polymorphic crystallization. One of the many examples surveyed is a cyanine/oxonol complex, for which different relative molecular orientations in two of the many reported polymorphs are shown.