There are two facilities available - single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (SXD and PXRD).
These are both available for commercial hire.
Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction
The laboratory has modern Oxford Diffraction Gemini and Xcalibur instruments fitted with variable temperature cryosystems. Both Mo and Cu sources are available. This means a wide range of chemical types can be examined and that absolute structure determination is possible even for light atom structures.
We'll measure, solve and refine around 500 small molecule (eg not protein) structures per year. Chemically unstable compounds, like pyrophoric organometallics, are routinely dealt with.
A fast commercial service is available to industry.
Client list:
- Onyx Scientific Ltd
- Luminescence Technical
- Intertek ASG
- Crystalografx Ltd
- Hyphadiscovery
Initial examination of samples for suitability is free and further details are available on application.
Contact
Powder X-ray Diffraction
Powder diffraction studies are carried out on a PANalytical X’Pert PRO instrument . This is set up in the classic Bragg Bretano, reflection mode, geometry and has a Cu source and an optional environmental cell. It's ideal for phase identification and polymorph screening. It's also capable of producing data of high enough quality to allow structural solution from powder diffraction.
Within the department, this instrument is used for the characterisation of mixed metal oxides, for the identification of minerals and for general materials applications.
If you are interested in using this instrument commercially, get in touch.