CRIF:MU Purchase of an X-ray Diffractometer for Research and Education

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With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multi User program (CRIF:MU), the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at California Institute of Technology will acquire an X-ray diffractometer (CCD) with a low-temperature crystal cooling system (LT). It will be utilized in research projects including 1) synthesis of organometallic catalysts for olefin polymerization, fuel production, and value-added chemicals, 2) mechanistic studies of zeolites, 3) mechanistic studies of protein folding as well as redox properties and molecular wire electron transfer of proteins, 4) development of corrole compounds for solar cell development, 5) development of complex macrocycles for biosensor development, 6) development of metathesis catalysts, 7) mechanistic studies of the catalytic processes of metallic centers in natural systems, and 8) "guided" synthesis of complex and biologically relevant organic compounds. The new X-ray diffractometer will be housed in the X-ray Crystallography Lab of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology.The technique of single-crystal X-ray crystallography allows accurate and precise determination of the full three dimensional structure of a molecule, including bond distances and angles, and it provides accurate information about the spatial arrangement of the molecule relative to the neighboring molecules. These studies will have an impact in a number of areas, especially synthetic chemistry.