Chem. Cryst., Oxford

CrystalsThe Chemical Crystallography Group and X-ray Crystallography Facility are located in the Chemistry Research Laboratory, Mansfield Road, Oxford. X-ray crystallography was established in Oxford in 1929 and has been part of the Department of Chemistry since 1946.

In addition to world-class X-ray diffraction facilities, Chem. Cryst. has an active research group and is home to the CRYSTALS software project. There are a number of projects available for undergraduate part II chemists.

Jan 062012
CRYSTALS v14.40

The CRYSTALS v14.40b installer is now available to download for the Windows platfom.

[Update: 14.40b fixes failure when importing reflections from Agilent cif_od files]

Selected highlights include:

  • New data import tools for most diffractometer types.
  • Asymmetric distance, Uij and adp vibration restraints.
  • Automatic lookup of neutron scattering factors.
  • Calculation of s.u’s on torsion angles in
  • Read the rest

Red Kite Crystallography Meeting - Jan 2012

[Edit - Thank-you to all the speakers and attendees who made this a great event; details are available on the main Red Kite web page.  See you all again next year!]

The inaugural meeting of the Red Kite Crystallographers will be held on Thursday 12th January, 2012 in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford.

Attendance will … Read the rest

Structure of the Month - November 2011

Presented by: Matthew P.Blake
Research Leader: Prof. Philip Mountford
Published: Journal of the American Chemical Society

Metal-metal bonded molecular compounds have been an essential part of development in inorganic chemistry for decades; research has been reenergized by the discovery of the first Cr-Cr quintuple-, Zn-Zn single- and Mg-Mg single bonds. However, within this rich and … Read the rest

Quasicrystals - Nobel Prize 2011

The Nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to Daniel Shechtman, from Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, for his discovery of the structure of quasicrystals. Until 1982, it was thought that only two-, three-, four- or six-fold rotational symmetry were possible, however Dr. Schechtman’s discovery changed all that when his electron … Read the rest

CRYSTALS Enhancements:  Absolute Structure Determination (A. L. Thompson and D. J. Watkin)

J. Appl. Cryst.  (2011), 44, 1017-1022.    [ doi:10.1107/S0021889811034066 ]

A summary of the features for investigating absolute structure available in the crystallographic refinement program CRYSTALS is presented, together with the results of analyses of 150 light-atom structures collected with molybdenum radiation carried out with these tools. The results confirm that the Flack and Hooft … Read the rest

Structure of the Month - September 2011

Presented by:  Andrew B. Cairns & Amber L. Thompson
Research Leader:  Dr. Andrew L. Goodwin
Published:  Journal of the American Chemical Society (cover article)

Negative Linear Compressibility (NLC) is where a material unusually expands in one direction under increasing pressure.  Potassium manganese dicyanoargentate exhibits the largest NLC over an extended range of any known material: … Read the rest

Chemical Crystallography: Reflections and Predictions

Chemical Crystallography: Reflections and Predictions
A symposium to mark the retirement of David J. Watkin
Friday 9th September 2011

[Update: Thanks to all the speakers and everyone who attended this event in honour of DJW.]

Programme

10.00   Refreshments in the Lecture Theatre Foyer, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory

10.50   Dr. Richard Cooper (University of Oxford, UK)
Welcome Read the rest

XXII International Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography

The triennial Congress of the International Union of Crystallography was held in Madrid, Spain at the end of August 2011. Chem. Cryst. was well represented with several talks and posters including:

Richard I. Cooper
Optimising X-ray Experiment Strategy on-the-fly based on Feedback from Automated Structure Solution (Presentation)

Amber L. Thompson
Battle of the Titans:  Atlas Read the rest

Diamond Light Source Annual Review

The 2011 Diamond Annual Review, which highlights some of the world-class research recently undertaken at Diamond Light Source is now available from their website.  The report includes a contribution from Prof. Paul Beer covering some of the fascinating interlocked structures determined from data collected using the Small Molecule Beamline, I19, as part of the Read the rest

Structure of the Month - June 2011

Presented by:  Matthew J. Langton, Jonathan D. Matichak & Amber L. Thompson
Research Leader:  Prof. Harry L. Anderson
Published:  Chemical Science (cover article)

Fully π-conjugated porphyrin oligomers exhibit remarkable properties such as ultrafast energy migration, strong two-photon absorption and wire-like charge transport. The possibility to encapsulate them by rotaxane formation may provide valuable control over … Read the rest

© 2012 Chemical Crystallography Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha