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The method of choice for determining the structure of a crystalline solid is single crystal diffraction. Accurate structure determination is vital for understanding the properties of a material and the way in which it functions. Any material which can yield single crystals of sufficient quality and size can be probed using this method. As sources become more powerful and as the methodology and instrumentation become more advanced, it is possible to study crystals of decreasing quality and size, thus making the technique viable to an increasing number of systems which were previously very difficult, if not impossible, to study with single-crystal techniques.

The use of synchrotron radiation for single crystal diffraction is necessary when structures are too complex, or crystals are of insufficient quality or size to allow structure determination from the relatively low intensity of a laboratory X-ray diffractometer.

On I19, very high speed data collection and high flux allows processes to be followed with unprecedented detail. Crystallography can follow structural trends in areas such as catalytic reactions, phase transitions, host-guest complexes, synthesis/degradation processes and (de)hydration. Single-crystal diffraction provides the definitive structural characterisation to allow true structure-property relationships to be described. New developments in anomalous dispersion studies rely on the tuneability of the wavelength across the range 0.5 - 2.0 Å coupled with rapid data collection. On I19, higher, tuneable energies can reduce systematic errors and increase the data resolution, both of which are of key importance for charge density studies, and the high flux allows the very rapid harvesting of the large volume of data required for these calculations. The combination of area detectors with high flux on I19 offers the necessary brilliance and dynamic range for unprecedented levels of quantification of crystalline disorder. Stroboscopic pump-probe X-ray diffraction techniques are planned to allow the determination of excited-state structures with very short lifetimes.

Recent Publication on I19: