Experimental electron densities in coumarin, 1-thiocoumarin, and 3-acetylcoumarin have been analyzed based on the X-ray diffraction data at 90 K. These compounds pack in the crystal lattice with weak C-H...O and C-H...pi interactions, and variations in charge density properties and derived local energy densities have been investigated in the regions of intermolecular interactions. Theoretical charge density calculations on crystals using the B3LYP/6-31G* method show remarkable agreement with the derived properties and energy densities from the experiment. The intermolecular interactions follow an exponential dependence of electron density and energy densities at the bond critical points. The Laplacian follows a "Morse-like" dependence on the length of the interaction line. Based on the set of criteria defined using the theory of "atoms in molecules", it has become possible to distinguish between a hydrogen bond (C-H...O) and a van der Waals interaction (C-H...pi). This has resulted in the identification of a "region of overlap" in terms of electron densities, energy densities, and mutual penetration of the hydrogen and acceptor atoms with respect to the interaction length. This approach suggests a possible tool to distinguish between the two types of interactions.

The topological features of the charge densities, rho(r), of three bioactive molecules, 2-thiouracil [2,3-dihydro-2-thioxopyrimidin-4(1H)-one], cytosine [4-aminopyrimidin-2(1H)-one] monohydrate and salicylic acid (2-hydroxybenzoic acid), have been determined from high-resolution X-ray diffraction data at 90 K. The corresponding results are compared with the periodic theoretical calculations, based on theoretical structure factors, performed using DFT (density-functional theory) at the B3LYP/6-31G** level. The molecules pack in the crystal lattices via weak intermolecular interactions as well as strong hydrogen bonds. All the chemical bonds, including the intra- and intermolecular interactions in all three compounds, have been quantitatively described by topological analysis based on Bader's quantum theory of 'Atoms In Molecules'. The roles of interactions such as C-H...O, C-H...S, C-H...pi and pi...pi have been investigated quantitatively in the presence of strong hydrogen bonds such as O-H...O, N-H...O and N-H...S, based on the criteria proposed by Koch and Popelier to characterize hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions. The features of weak intermolecular interactions, such as S...S in 2-thiouracil, the hydrogen bonds generated from the water molecule in cytosine monohydrate and the formation of the dimer via strong hydrogen bonds in salicylic acid, are highlighted on a quantum basis. Three-dimensional electrostatic potentials over the molecular surfaces emphasize the preferable binding sites in the structure and the interaction features of the atoms in the molecules, which are crucial for drug-receptor recognition.

Anisotropic displacement parameters (ADPs) are compared for H atoms estimated using three recently described procedures, both among themselves and with neutron diffraction results. The results convincingly demonstrate that all methods are capable of giving excellent results for several benchmark systems and identify systematic discrepancies for several atom types. A revised and extended library of internal H-atom mean-square displacements is presented for use with Madsen's SHADE web server [J. Appl. Cryst. (2006), 39, 757-758; http://shade.ki.ku.dk], and the improvement over the original SHADE results is substantial, suggesting that this is now the most readily and widely applicable of the three approximate procedures. Using this new library--SHADE2--it is shown that, in line with expectations, a segmented rigid-body description of the heavy atoms yields only a small improvement in the agreement with neutron results. The SHADE2 library, now incorporated in the SHADE web server, is recommended as a routine procedure for deriving estimates of H-atom ADPs suitable for use in charge-density studies on molecular crystals, and its widespread use should reveal remaining deficiencies and perhaps overcome the inherent bias in the majority of such studies.

The multipolar atom model, constructed by transferring the charge-density parameters from an experimental or theoretical database, is considered to be an easy replacement of the widely used independent atom model. The present study on a new crystal structure of quercetin monohydrate [2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxy-4H-chromen-4-one monohydrate], a plant flavonoid, determined by X-ray diffraction, demonstrates that the transferred multipolar atom model approach greatly improves several factors: the accuracy of atomic positions and the magnitudes of atomic displacement parameters, the residual electron densities and the crystallographic figures of merit. The charge-density features, topological analysis and electrostatic interaction energies obtained from the multipole models based on experimental database transfer and periodic quantum mechanical calculations are found to compare well. This quantitative and comparative study shows that in the absence of high-resolution diffraction data, the database transfer approach can be applied to the multipolar electron density features very accurately.

The first high-resolution neutron protein structure of perdeuterated rubredoxin from Pyrococcus furiosus (PfRd) determined using the new IMAGINE macromolecular neutron crystallography instrument at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is reported. Neutron diffraction data extending to 1.65 Å resolution were collected from a relatively small 0.7 mm(3) PfRd crystal using 2.5 d (60 h) of beam time. The refined structure contains 371 out of 391, or 95%, of the D atoms of the protein and 58 solvent molecules. The IMAGINE instrument is designed to provide neutron data at or near atomic resolution (1.5 Å) from crystals with volume <1.0 mm(3) and with unit-cell edges <100 Å. Beamline features include novel elliptical focusing mirrors that deliver neutrons into a 2.0 × 3.2 mm focal spot at the sample position with full-width vertical and horizontal divergences of 0.5 and 0.6°, respectively. Variable short- and long-wavelength cutoff optics provide automated exchange between multiple-wavelength configurations (λmin = 2.0, 2.8, 3.3 Å to λmax = 3.0, 4.0, 4.5, ∼20 Å). These optics produce a more than 20-fold increase in the flux density at the sample and should help to enable more routine collection of high-resolution data from submillimetre-cubed crystals. Notably, the crystal used to collect these PfRd data was 5-10 times smaller than those previously reported.

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Although reliable determination of the molecular dipole moment from experimental charge density analyses on molecular crystals is a challenging undertaking, these values are becoming increasingly common experimental results. We collate all known experimental determinations and use this database to identify broad trends in the dipole moment enhancements implied by these measurements as well as outliers for which enhancements are pronounced. Compelling evidence emerges that molecular dipole moments from X-ray diffraction data can provide a wealth of information on the change in the molecular charge distribution that results from crystal formation. Most importantly, these experiments are unrivalled in their potential to provide this information in such detail and deserve to be exploited to a much greater extent. The considerable number of experimental determinations now available has enabled us to pinpoint those studies that merit further attention, either because they point unequivocally to a considerable enhancement in the crystal (of 50 % or more), or because the experimental determinations suggest enhancements of 100 % or more--much larger than independent theoretical estimates. In both cases further detailed experimental and theoretical studies are indicated.

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