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Main Authors: Chung, Yongchul G., Lah, Myoung Soo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26295
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author Chung, Yongchul G.
Lah, Myoung Soo
author_facet Chung, Yongchul G.
Lah, Myoung Soo
contents Digital reticular chemistry relies on accurate crystal structures to power computational screening, data-driven discovery, and structure-property analysis, yet recent studies reveal that more than half of the top-performing candidates in major computational screening campaigns are chemically invalid. In experimental MOF databases, structural errors arise when disordered or incomplete structural models are incorrectly converted into fully specified simulation inputs. In hypothetical MOF database, structures are complete by construction but may encode chemically implausible oxidation states, coordination environments, or charge distributions. We term these erroneous structural models "structural demons." This mini-review asks three questions: where these errors enter, how we find them, and how we prevent them. On the prevention side, the key steps are keeping diffraction data and synthesis details together from the start, using consistent curation when structures enter a database, and filtering topology choices before structure generation. Connecting these steps can keep many bad structures out of downstream databases and reduce the need to fix them later.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_26295
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hunting Structural Demons in Digital Reticular Chemistry: Lessons from Metal-Organic Frameworks
Chung, Yongchul G.
Lah, Myoung Soo
Materials Science
Chemical Physics
Digital reticular chemistry relies on accurate crystal structures to power computational screening, data-driven discovery, and structure-property analysis, yet recent studies reveal that more than half of the top-performing candidates in major computational screening campaigns are chemically invalid. In experimental MOF databases, structural errors arise when disordered or incomplete structural models are incorrectly converted into fully specified simulation inputs. In hypothetical MOF database, structures are complete by construction but may encode chemically implausible oxidation states, coordination environments, or charge distributions. We term these erroneous structural models "structural demons." This mini-review asks three questions: where these errors enter, how we find them, and how we prevent them. On the prevention side, the key steps are keeping diffraction data and synthesis details together from the start, using consistent curation when structures enter a database, and filtering topology choices before structure generation. Connecting these steps can keep many bad structures out of downstream databases and reduce the need to fix them later.
title Hunting Structural Demons in Digital Reticular Chemistry: Lessons from Metal-Organic Frameworks
topic Materials Science
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26295