X-Ray Crystallography Machine

This facility is managed by Mr Kuldip Singh. (email ks42@le.ac.uk)

Crystal structure analysis by the interpretation of X-ray diffraction data is an extremely powerful technique. The method is used to elucidate not only the molecular structure of a compound but also the extended solid-state structure. The greatest limitation of the technique is a necessity for a single, or at worst a simply twinned, crystal.

Equipment

The department has a Bruker APEX 2000 diffractometer, which has a 4k CCD detector allowing rapid data acquisition for most samples. The sensitive detector also makes it possible to collect data from samples of smaller crystals (<0.1mm) previously not viable. Samples are routinely cooled to 150K using an Oxford Cyrostream cooler. The diffractometer usually operates with Mo- Ka radiation that is ideal for small molecule crystallography. Typical molecular determinations have between 10 and 200 unique non-hydrogen atoms.

External Users

The facility primarily serves the needs of the various research groups of the chemistry department at Leicester but it is also used in collaboration with, or as a service to, other academic departments and to external users. In operating a service, rather than collaboration, with external groups a charge will be applied depending on the specific requirements.