A generally applicable and systematic prediction of crystal structures and their properties has been an important goal of crystallography and materials science. Here we present such a general and systematic approach. This approach is based on a combination of graph theory with quantum mechanics. As an application, structures, properties and relative stabilities of small hypothetical carbon polymorphs with up to six atoms per unit cell are presented.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2614(01)00126-9