X-Ray Crystallography
X-ray crystallography at Newcastle consists of three members of staff: Professor Bill Clegg, Dr Ulrich Baisch and Dr Ross Harrington.
The crystallography laboratory supports research in all fields of chemistry, with particular applications in medicinal chemistry, catalysis, unusual coordination chemistry, and the correlation of structure with reactivity and physical properties such as photophysics and gas adsorption.
It currently offers:
- Crystal structure determinations by use of one of our two modern single-crystal diffractometers with CCD detectors. The most recently acquired is a dual source Gemini instrument (Atlas detector) from Oxford Diffraction. This system is ideally suited to modern, high throughput crystallography laboratories as well as specialist crystallographic research in both small molecule and protein crystallography. The X-ray laboratory is set up for rapid and convenient transfer of samples between cold storage (fridge/freezer), Schlenk line (in a dedicated fume-hood), microscope stage and diffractometer.
- Real-time investigation of temperature-induced phase transitions, solid-state reactions and polymorph transformations of crystalline samples by use of our new hot-stage microscope (temperature range between −196 and 600 °C).
- Access to X-ray powder diffraction experiments and thermal analysis (instruments are situated within the faculty) and crystal structure determination from crystalline powders.
- Data collections and crystal structure determination by use of synchrotron radiation.
Future developments will include charge density calculations using high-resolution data, both using laboratory and synchrotron data.
The group is very experienced in collecting single-crystal data at synchrotron radiation sources, having responsibility for the synchrotron component of the EPSRC National Crystallography Service at the the SRS and then Diamond light source between October 2001 and April 2010. Newcastle Crystallography continues to collaborate with synchrotron facilities all over the world and Prof. Clegg is leading the application process for a second dedicated small molecule beamline at Diamond Light Source.
Our support for research groups in Newcastle and elsewhere, and our own group's combined synthetic and structural research projects (Crystal Engineering, MOF's, …), generates many publications each year in leading international journals. We also undertake some commercial contract research, mainly in the pharmaceutical area with local and international companies.