Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a Single Crystal X-Ray Diffractometer for Structure Determination of Molecules and Materials at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖由材料研究部（DMR）和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助，支持单晶x射线衍射仪系统的采购，该系统是西肯塔基大学（WKU）几个研究项目的核心。此外，与其他三所大学（加州浸会大学、利普斯科姆大学和芬德利大学）的教员合作，扩大了范围，并为更广泛的人员群体提供了机会。这种先进的设备在解决化学、物理和地质领域的基本问题方面起着至关重要的作用，这些领域需要对晶体化合物和矿物的三维结构进行精确和精确的测量。此外，它还为西堪萨斯大学的本科生、地区高中的高中生提供了宝贵的培训和研究机会，包括在西堪萨斯大学校园住宿环境中攻读高中课程的天才学生加顿学院学生。该系统具有一个微聚焦密封管钼源，一个带光学编码器的多轴测角仪，所有轴都在小于7微米的球体内，一个支持无快门数据收集的光子区域探测器，一个风冷发电机，以及一个样品温度在80 K到400 K之间的低温装置。系统所提供的软件套件包括一套全面可靠的例程，用于从单晶中收集和集成帧数据，并用于求解、精炼、显示和发布结构结果。该仪器支持的项目推进了金属氧化学和光催化的知识水平：1)如何生成血红素类金属配合物以及如何控制它们的结构来控制它们的光催化；2)金属-有机框架化学：如何调整其结构以获得所需的光催化或电化学性能；3)有机分子化学：以苯并咪唑为基础的衍生物的固态填充方式，以及如何合成全氟融合环吡啶嗪、卤化三环辛烷/三环癸烷和氨基酸类似物；4)固体化学：如何制造金属氧化物和双钙钛矿；以及猛犸洞国家公园稀有矿物的结构。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award, jointly funded by the Division of Materials Research (DMR), and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), supports the acquisition of a single crystal X-ray diffractometer system, which is central to several research projects at Western Kentucky University (WKU). In addition, collaboration with faculty at three other universities (California Baptist University, Lipscomb University, and the University of Findlay) expands and provides access to a wider group of personnel. This advanced equipment plays a crucial role in addressing fundamental inquiries in the fields of chemistry, physics, and geology that demand accurate and precise measurements of the three-dimensional structures of crystalline compounds and minerals. Further, it offers valuable training and research opportunities for undergraduate students at WKU, high school students at regional high schools, including Gatton Academy students who are gifted students pursuing their high school courses in a residential setting on the WKU campus.The system features a microfocus sealed-tube Mo source, a multi-axis goniometer with optical encoders and all axes within a sphere of less than 7 micrometers, a photon area detector supporting shutterless data collection, an air-cooled generator, and a low-temperature device for sample temperatures between 80 K and 400 K. The software suite provided with the system consists of a comprehensive suite of reliable routines for collecting and integrating frame data from single crystals and for solving, refining, displaying, and publishing structural results. Projects supported by this instrument advance the state of knowledge for 1) metal-oxo chemistry and photocatalysis on how to generate heme-like metal complexes and how to control their structures to control their photocatalysis; 2) metal-organic framework chemistry on how to tune their structures to gain desired photocatalytic or electrochemical properties, 3) organic molecular chemistry on solid-state packing styles of phenanthroimidazole-based derivatives, and how to synthesize perfluorinated fused-ring pyridazines, halogenated tricyclooctanes/tricyclodecanes, and amino acid analogs, 4) solid state chemistry on how to make metal oxides and double Perovskites, 5) types, distribution, and structures of rare minerals at Mammoth Cave National Park.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.