Benzoic acid1 is the simplest aromatic carboxylic acid and a commonly used preservative in foods and a snowflake mimic in holiday snow globes. This past August, Yifan Meng, Richard N. Zare*, and ...

X-ray structure of the caffeine-benzoic acid assembly. Credit: Chem. Sci. For decades, researchers have tried to cocrystallize caffeine and benzoic acid.