Organa– a program package for structure determination from powder diffraction data by direct-space methods

A new software package has been developed, namedOrgana, forab initiosolution of crystal structures from powder diffraction data by direct-space methods. The package contains energy-guiding Monte Carlo and grid-search algorithms and is based on a combined global minimization of theRfactor and a potential energy function of the system with the option of local minimization of the cost function for each generated trial structure. Basically, the potential energy function consists of van der Waals interactions, but harmonic potentials can be added to impose soft distance restraints. The program was successfully applied to the structure determination of a series of melamine phosphate compounds. The program is freely available (for all Windows platforms) from the correspondence author upon request.

Intermolecular -CH(3)...O(2)N-- contacts in two polymorphic modifications of (1E)-N'-[(E)-2-cyano-1-(dimethylamino)-2-nitrovinyl]-N,N-dimethylethanimidamide

The title compound was synthesized and isolated in two crystal modifications. The structure of the orthorhombic modification was determined by the X-ray powder diffraction method and the structure of the monoclinic modification was determined using the X-ray single-crystal diffraction technique. The molecules in both polymorphs are E,E isomers. Intermolecular H(3)C....NO(2) contacts and their role in the formation of the polymorphic modifications are analyzed.

A Monte Carlo approach to crystal structure determination from powder diffraction data

A new direct-space method forab initiosolution of crystal structures from powder diffraction data is presented. The approach consists of a combined global minimization ofRwpand the potential energy of the system. This method was tested on two organic compounds with known structure and also applied successfully in the structure determination of the previously unknown structure of melamine pyrophosphate.

Structure determination of two metal-organic complexes from high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction data

The crystal structures of [1,2-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenylimino)acenaphthene-N,N']carbonylchlororhodium(I) (1) and [N,N'-ethylene-bis(3-methylsalicylideneiminato)-O,N,N',O'](tetrahydrofurfuryl)-cobalt(II) (2) have been determined from high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data. Compound 1 is the first neutral Rh complex, in contrast with findings in the literature, containing a bidentate nitrogen ligand, and compound 2 is the first three-dimensional structure of a (five-coordinated) tetrahydrofurfurylcobalt(III) complex. Grid-search and Rietveld refinement have been used to determine and refine the structures, respectively. Crystals of 1 are orthorhombic, space group Pbca, Z = 8, with cell parameters a = 21.729 (2), b = 27.376 (3), c = 11.580 (1) A. Crystals of 2 are monoclinic, space group P2(1)/n, Z = 4, a = 16.6701 (6), b = 9.4170 (4), c = 13.7088 (7) A and beta = 96.520 (3) degrees. Chemical diagrams for the two compounds are given. Soft restraints were applied during Rietveld refinement; for 1 converging to R(p) = 8.4%, R(w) = 11.0%, GoF = 2.3, and for 2 converging to R(p) = 8.5%, R(w) = 11.4%, GoF = 7.6.

Structure determination of the [Fe(teec)(6)](BF(4))(2) metal complex from laboratory and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data with grid-search techniques

The structure of the coordination compound [Fe(teec)(6)](BF(4))(2), hexa[1-(2-chloroethyl)tetrazole]iron(II) di(borotetrafluoride), has been determined using the grid-search techniques of the program suite MRIA. A Guinier-camera data set was used to determine the unit cell, the space group and to position the initial model. A high-resolution synchrotron powder data set was used to position a more detailed model using torsion-angle variation and to refine the structure leading to Rp = 0.0689, Rw = 0.0805 and GoF = 1.38. The crystal structure at room temperature shows the existence of two symmetry-equivalent iron(II) ions in the high-spin state.

The joint probability distributions of structure-factor doublets in displacive incommensurately modulated structures and their applicability to direct methods

In 1993, alternative normalized structure factors for incommensurately modulated structures were defined [Lam, Beurskens & van Smaalen (1993). Acta Cryst. A49, 709-721]. The probability distribution associated with the structure invariants E(-H)E(H')E(H - H') has approximately the same functional form as the Cochran distribution. It was shown, however, that triplet-phase relations are relatively less reliable when satellites are involved [de Gelder, Israël, Lam, Beurskens, van Smaalen, Fu & Fan (1996). Acta Cryst. A52, 947-954]. In the present paper, an alternative approach is presented: instead of studying the distribution of a three-phase invariant, the probability distribution of the phase sum of two first-order satellite reflections (h,k,l,1 and h',k',l',-1) has been derived under the assumption that the phase of the associated main reflection (h + h',k + k',l + l',0) can be calculated from the known main (or averaged) structure. Intensive tests with randomly generated artificial structures and one real structure show a significant improvement of direct-methods phase-sum statistics. Functional similarities with conventional direct methods, employing normalized structure factors and the Cochran distribution, are discussed.

Structure of beta-trimyristin and beta-tristearin from high-resolution X-ray powder diffraction data

The crystal structures of beta-1,2,3-tritetradecanoylglycerol (beta-trimyristin or beta-MMM) and beta-1,2,3-trioctadecanoylglycerol (beta-tristearin or beta-SSS) have been determined from high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data. Grid search and Rietveld refinement have been used to determine and refine the structure, respectively. Both substances crystallize in space group P1; with Z = 2. The unit-cell parameters for beta-MMM are a = 12.0626 (6), b = 41.714 (1), c = 5.4588 (3) A, alpha = 73.388 (4), beta = 100.408 (5) and gamma = 118.274 (4) degrees. For beta-SSS the unit-cell parameters are a = 12.0053 (7), b = 51.902 (2), c = 5.4450 (3) A, alpha = 73.752 (5), beta = 100.256 (6) and gamma = 117.691 (5) degrees. Soft-distance restraints have been applied to the molecules during refinement. For beta-MMM the final R(p) value obtained is 0.053 and for beta-SSS the final R(p) value is 0.041.

Structure of CnCn+2Cn-type (n = even) beta'-triacylglycerols

The crystal structures of the beta' phase of CLC (1, 3-didecanoyl-2-dodecanoylglycerol) and MPM (1, 3-ditetradecanoyl-2-hexadecanoylglycerol) have been determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction and high-resolution X-ray powder diffraction data, respectively. Both these crystals are orthorhombic with space group Iba2 and Z = 8. The unit-cell parameters of beta'-CLC are a = 57.368 (6), b = 22.783 (2) and c = 5.6945 (6) A and the final R value is 0.175. The unit-cell parameters of beta'-MPM are a = 76.21 (4), b = 22.63 (1) and c = 5.673 (2) A and the final R(p) value is 0.057. Both the beta'-CLC and beta'-MPM molecules are crystallized in a chair conformation, having a bend at the glycerol moiety. The zigzag planes of the acyl chains are orthogonally packed, as is typical for a beta' phase. Furthermore, unit-cell parameters of some other members of the C(n)C(n+2)C(n)-type triacylglycerol series have been refined on their high-resolution X-ray powder diffraction pattern. Finally, the crystal structures are compared with the currently known structures and models of triacylglycerols.

On the determination of accurate intensities from powder diffraction data. II. Estimation of intensities of overlapping reflections

Even the best least-squares algorithm to extract intensities from a powder diagram will not be able to determine the separate intensities of completely overlapping peaks. In this paper a new method (DOREES) is presented to determine these intensities more accurately by applying relations between structure factors derived from direct methods and the Patterson function. The intensities obtained from the least-squares fit are used as a starting set for DOREES. Comparative tests on both artificially generated and real data show that DOREES improves the intensity set considerably.

On the determination of accurate intensities from powder diffraction data. I. Whole-pattern fitting with a least-squares procedure

A new algorithm, direct intensity fitting, has been developed which performs a whole-pattern fitting for powder data. The algorithm is related to the fitting technique of Pawley [J. Appl. Cryst. 14, 357–361] but does not require start values for the intensities of the individual reflections. Comparative tests show that direct intensity fitting extracts more accurate intensities from a powder diffractogram and reduces the minimum peak distance for accurate data to half of the half-widths. The structure of the superconductor Ba2YCu3O8−x can be solved in a default direct-methods run with direct-intensity-fitting intensities extracted from a normal laboratory powder diffractogram.