Single X ray diffraction: A technique to elucidate the structure of crystal

Abstract

X-ray crystallography is a technique that enable us to determine the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal. As we are acquainted with the fact that all the substances which surround us are made up of atoms and the three dimensional arrangement of an atom define structure of substance. Various measurement techniques which can elucidate the structure of any material are Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared spectroscopy (IR), Mass spectroscopy (MS). But from these spectroscopic techniques only the partial structure can be identified. So Single crystal X-ray diffraction is a technique that can deduce the atomic and molecular structure in precise manner. This technique has enabled the determination of arrangement of atoms within the lattice including unit cell dimensions, bond angle and bond length which cannot be determined by the conventional techniques NMR,IR and Mass spectroscopy.