Recent Advances in Crystallography

Abstract

Dr Jason Benedict received his B.S. in Chemistry from Arizona State University in 2001. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Washington in the laboratory of Professor Bart Kahr in 2007. His graduate work involved the optical characterization of anisotropic media including dyed crystals, spherulites, and poled polymers. He was a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Philip Coppens at the University at Buffalo from 2008-2011 developing time-resolved X-ray diffraction techniques as well as synthesizing and characterizing functionalized semiconductor nanoparticles. In 2011, Dr Benedict joined the Department of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo as an Assistant Professor where he is developing new 'in-house' time-resolved X-ray diffraction, imaging, and spectroscopic techniques and synthesizing novel molecular nanomaterials for a variety of materials science applications. ContentsPreface XI Section History of Crystallography 1Chapter Histories of Crystallography by Shafranovskii and Schuh 3 PrefaceThe advent of X-ray diffraction in the early twentieth century transformed crystallography from an area of scientific inquiry largely limited to physics, mineralogy, and mathematics, to a highly interdisciplinary field which now includes nearly all life and physical sciences as well as materials science and engineering. The atomic resolution structural information which is now routinely afforded by the combination of X-ray diffraction and crystallography is indispensable for the characterization of many modern materials, the interpretation of their function, and when applicable the rational improvement of their properties. Brighter X-ray sources and improved computing resources drive the evolution of new techniques for the characterization of increasingly exotic materials.This book is a collection of works showcasing some of the most recent developments in the field of crystallography. The history of a scientific field seldom accompanies a field's most recent technical advances between the same two covers. This collection, however, commences with a search for the elusive single narrative of the history of crystallography. Kahr and Shtukenberg introduce the reader to the numerous works which have attempted to describe the evolution of the study of crystals. Ultimately, the authors conclude that the independent narratives of Ilarion Ilarionovich Shafronovskii and Curtis Schuh provide the most comprehensive accounts of the history of crystallography to date and are 'unlikely to be surpassed for a very long time.' X Preface contribution of this section authored by Paradies and coworkers employs a wide variety of experimental techniques including X-ray scattering and diffraction as well as electron microscopy and diffraction on nanocrystals and crystalline colloids of Lipid A-diphosphate to unravel the structure of this biologically important molecule.Crystals as functional materials drives the field of crystal engineering which seeks to create solid-state structures with targeted physical and chemical pr...