Non crystalline diffraction, which covers the techniques of small and wide angle X-ray scattering, is a powerful tool for structural investigations of condensed matter, taking advantage of: 

• very high count rates
• controlled environmental conditions for in situ experiments
• millisecond and shorter timescales (i.e. nanoparticle growth)

to provide information about size, size distribution, shape and orientation of components in the sample. It is especially useful for:

• Samples that are difficult or impossible to crystallise (proteins, polymers)
• Complex or composite systems (polymer composites, alloys)
• Materials with large scale self-organisation (lipids, surfactants)
• Characterisation of nanoparticulate systems

Service options

We offer a range of service options for small and wide angle X-ray scattering including:

• mail in data collection and analysis
• scientific and technical support and training during experiments
• collaboration on design of sample environment equipment to allow in situ experiments.

Recent Publications

BioSAXS papers:

• Structural analysis of a novel class of R-M controller proteins: C.Csp231I from Citrobacter sp. RFL231 Journal Paper, John McGeehan,SD Streeter,S-J Thresh,J Taylor,Mikhail Shevtsov,Geoff Kneale, Journal of Molecular Biology DOI: Structural analysis of a novel class of R-M controller proteins: C.Csp231I from Citrobacter sp. RFL231
• Shape of tropoelastin, the highly extensible protein that controls human tissue elasticity Journal Paper, Clair Baldock,Andres Andres Oberhauser,Ling Ma,Donna Lammie,Veronique Siegler,Suzanne Mithieux,Yidong Tu,John Chow,Farhana Suleman,Marc Malfois,Sarah Rogers,Liang Guo,Thomas Irving,Tim Wess,Anthony Weiss, PNAS DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1014280108
• Hydrogelation and Self-Assembly of Fmoc-Tripeptides: Unexpected Influence of Sequence on Self-Assembled Fibril Structure, and Hydrogel Modulus and Anisotropy Journal Paper, D Cheng,Valeria Castelletto,Claire Moulton,Gemma Newby,Ian Hamley, LANGMUIR 26 DOI: 10.1021/la903678e

Physical Science SAXS Publications:

• Vernier templating and synthesis of a 12-porphyrin nano-ring Journal Paper, Melanie O'Sullivan,Johannes Sprafke,Dmitry Kondratiuk,Corentin Rinfray,Timothy Claridge,Alex Saywell,Matthew Blunt,James O'Shea,Peter Beton,Marc Malfois,Harry Anderson, Nature 469 DOI: 10.1038/nature09683
• Self-Assembly of Dendronized Perylene Bisimides into Complex Helical Columns Journal Paper, Virgil Percec,Mihai Peterca,Timur Tadjiev,Xiangbing Zeng,Goran Ungar,Pawaret Leowanawat,Emad Aqad,Mohammad R Imam,Brad Matthew Rosen,Ümit Akbey,Robert Graf,Sivakumar Sekharan,Daniel Sebastiani,Hans W. Spiess,Paul A. Heiney,Steven David Hudson, Journal of the American Chemical Society DOI: 10.1021/ja204366b
• Continuously tuneable optical filters from self-assembled block copolymer blends Journal Paper, Andy Parnell,Andy Pryke,Oleksandr Mykhaylyk,Jon Howse,Ali Adawi,Nicholas Terrill,Patrick Fairclough, SOFT MATTER DOI: 10.1039/C0SM01320J
• Formation of Green Rust Sulfate: A Combined in Situ Time-Resolved X-ray Scattering and Electrochemical Study Journal Paper, Imad Ahmed,Liane G Benning,Gabriella Kakonyi,Aryani Sumoondur,Nicholas Terrill,Sam Shaw, Langmuir DOI: 10.1021/la903935j