Page 5 - Periodic Issue 02

C International Year of

rystallography

By Andrew Bissette, Fletcher Group @_byronmiller

2014 is the International 1929 and went on to become the Head of the Chemical
Year of Crystallography, Crystallography Laboratory. Nor did it end with her Nobel
organised by UNESCO and Prize: today, X-ray crystallography continues to be a vital
the International Union of discipline for chemists in Oxford.
Crystallography to mark the
100th anniversary of X-ray Research groups use X-ray crystallography to tackle the
crystallography. Scientists challenges facing the world in the 21st century, including
around the world are working healthcare, renewable energy and the environment. The
to promote education and chemical crystallography centre produces internationally-
research in crystallography recognised research in addition to providing a state-
and to inspire young people. A three dimensional map of-the-art X-ray diffraction service to researchers in the
of part of one of the crystal Department. In recent years the centre has contributed
X-ray crystallography has salts of penicillin, based on to diverse research projects ranging from crystallographic
a long and distinguished X-ray crystallography work by methodology to probing the fundamentals of chirality and
history at the University of Dorothy Hodgkin. [Museum of characterising novel supramolecular assemblies.
History of Science, Oxford]
Oxford. Indeed, this year
marks the 50th anniversary To celebrate the International Year of Crystallography there
of Oxford chemist Dorothy will be events throughout the year in and around Oxford.
Crowfoot Hodgkin’s receipt Already, the Diamond Light Source has opened its doors
of the Nobel Prize for work to the public, and Oxford researchers participated in the
elucidating the structures Big Bang Science Fair in Birmingham. On the 6th of May
of penicillin and vitamin a new Royal Society of Chemistry plaque commemorating
B12. This groundbreaking Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was installed in the Inorganic
research demonstrated the Chemistry building.
power and importance of
X-ray crystallography for Pushing the frontiers of the crystallographic technique
chemists: aside from her has a rich history at Oxford that continues today.
pioneering work on the Some of the first neutron diffraction experiments in the
structure of macromolecules, UK by Oxford Chemistry helped unlock the layered
her structure of penicillin structure of the lithium battery material LiCoO —so
2
resolved a long-standing One of the interests in the ushering in the mobile technology age. A strong ethos
problem which tripped Goodwin Group is “order within of combining synthesis, novel experiment design, and
up even the great Robert disorder”: the concept that development of new analysis methods persists within
Robinson, who like many within an ostensibly ordered the department.
material, correlated disorder
favoured an incorrect can give rise to useful functional
thiazolidine-oxazolone behaviour. This disorder might
structure over the actual also form its own patterns Techniques have advanced rapidly over the past 50
ß-lactam structure. — something that can be years, and today X-ray crystallography is a routine
seen using crystallographic
measurements. In these technique using sophisticated software to automate
The history of X-ray images we see a square-like data collection and processing. Even non-specialists
crystallography in Oxford arrangement of connected “T” can be trained to rapidly produce high-quality
did not begin with Dorothy linkers. Each unit is connected structures. The software package CRYSTALS
to three others, but there is
Hodgkin, but with her no long-range periodicity in (developed in-house at the Department of Chemistry)
supervisor Herbert Powell, this arrangement — it is not provides novice users with the expert decision-
who was appointed the “crystalline” in the conventional making tools required for undertaking unsupervised
University’s first reader in sense. structure determination.
Chemical Crystallography in Image credit: Andrew Cairns

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Periodic
The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry