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Science 16 April 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5413, pp. 477 - 479
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5413.477
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Reports

Single-Crystal-Like Diffraction Data from Polycrystalline Materials

Thomas Wessels, Christian Baerlocher, Lynne B. McCusker *

A method for solving structures from powder diffraction data was developed, and its validity was demonstrated on three complex structures. The method uses a textured sample and exploits the high intensity and parallel nature of synchrotron radiation. In principle, crystal structures as complex as those routinely solved by single-crystal methods can be determined with this approach. For example, the as-synthesized form of the zeolite UTD-1, with 69 nonhydrogen atoms in the asymmetric unit, could be solved directly. With this method, a larger range of structural complexity becomes accessible to scientists interested in the structures of polycrystalline materials that cannot be grown as single crystals.

Laboratorium für Kristallographie, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Lynne.McCusker{at}kristall.erdw.ethz.ch

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)