Electron diffraction

The XtaLAB Synergy-ED electron diffractometer, facilitates a smooth transition from data collection to the determination of three-dimensional molecular structures. It is the fruit of innovative collaboration aimed at amalgamating our fundamental technologies: Rigaku’s rapid and highly sensitive electron detector (HyPix-ED), and a cutting-edge instrument management and single crystal analysis software platform (CrysAlisPro for ED), with JEOL’s extensive expertise and market leadership in the design and manufacturing of transmission electron microscopes.

The integrated electron diffractometer ensures an uninterrupted workflow from data gathering to the interpretation of 3D molecular structures.

This equipment has the capability to examine nano-crystalline samples, thanks to the electron diffraction’s prowess in measuring crystals that are just hundreds of nanometers or less in size. This scale is thousands of times smaller than what can be analysed using a synchrotron.

This apparatus has the capacity to function over a broad temperature spectrum, from 100 K to 1000 K. The technique offers numerous features, including the ability to perform in situ crystallisation, absolute structure elucidation, and powder diffraction, among others.

Key features and functionalities:

• Structure of nanocrystals: The device comes furnished with an extremely fast detector and a wide-ranging goniometer, enabling full set data collection in a matter of minutes.
• Indexing: It allows the fast indexing of nanocrystals in seconds.
• In situ crystallisation: The low temperature device enables in situ crystallisation of sensitive samples.
• Measurements at 100 K: It can measure at temperatures of 100K enhancing the sample stability and the quality of the measurement.
• Sample preparation at 100K: The ED is equipped with an external cryostat for preserving instable samples.
• Oven for measurements up to 1000 K: For special analysis it owns an internal oven that reach temperatures up to 1073 K.
• Absolute configuration: Utilising this methodology, it becomes feasible to determine the absolute configuration of compounds, even when the size of their crystals is merely in the range of hundreds of nanometers.

The “XtaLAB Synergy-ED” equipment has been funded by the grant EQC2021-006956-P, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR.