Molecular insights into crystallization of minerals: the case of first-row transition metal salt hydrates

How does Nature, the virtuoso chemist, assemble a mineral, an inorganic crystalline compound with a specific composition? How does one account for the directional interactions responsible for the final assembly of a crystal hydrate observed through an X-ray lens? Chemical insights into the aggregation of molecules resulting into simple salt hydrates still evade experimental and theoretical studies. This article gives a perspective of how Nature dictates the structural landscape of MSO4-H2O in terms of supramolecular aggregation between the molecular species {M(H2O)(6)}(2+), SO42- and H2O interacting at supersaturation through H-bonding and subsequent coordination forces.