BCA/CCG Intensive Teaching School in X-Ray Structure Analysis

In March, PhD student Melissa attended The BCA/CCG (Chemical Crystallography Group of the British Crystallographic Association) Intensive Teaching School in X-Ray Structure Analysis at Durham University.

The intensive week was a blend of lectures and workshops and was intended primarily for younger scientists with some experience of structure analysis who wish to improve their understanding of the underlying principles and practice.

Topics:

• Space group determination

• Background theory to data acquisition for small molecules and inorganics

• Practical aspects of data collection

• Practical aspects of data processing

• Fourier syntheses

• Patterson syntheses and direct methods for crystal structure determination

• Charge flipping

• Refinement of inorganic, organic and metal-organic structures

• Derivation of results

• Random and systematic errors

• Twinning

• Validation of results

• Crystallographic databases (CSD, ICSD, etc)

Melissa really enjoyed that training and is ready to share her knowledge with the rest of the group.