Bringing the 4th Dimension to Chemical Crystallography - Time Resolved Photocrystallography

了解材料结构对原子分辨率的重要性，原子之间连接的数量和性质，是理解材料性质的基础。X射线晶体学是获得固体材料详细结构的最佳方法，并提供结构的3D图像。然而，到目前为止，它是一种技术，只看起来像分子在他们的地面（非反应）状态。在这个提议中，我们希望第一次将时间维度引入晶体学实验。通过将X射线实验与同步光源相结合，激活分子进入激发（反应）状态，我们将研究寿命为微秒甚至纳秒的物种结构。为了实现这一点，我们需要建立保护这些光反应分子周围的分子笼，并比较它们的固态行为与发生在溶液中使用时间分辨红外技术。

The importance of knowing the structure of a material to atomic resolution, the number and nature of the connectivities between the atoms, is fundamental in understanding the properties of the material. X-ray crystallography is the best method of obtaining the detailed structure of solid materials, and provides a 3D picture of the structure. However, until now, it is a technique that only looks as molecules in their ground (unreactive) state. In this proposal, for the first time, we wish to introduce the dimension of time into the crystallographic experiment. By combining the X-ray experiment with a synchronised light source, that activates the molecules into an excited (reactive) state, we will look at the structures of species with lifetimes of microseconds or even nanoseconds. To achieve this we need to build protective molecular cages around these photoreactive molecules, and to compare their solid state behaviour with what occurs in solution using time resolved IR techniques.