[Press Release] Rigaku to Install XtaLAB Synergy-ED Electron Diffractometer at ICIQ in Spain

Rigaku, a leader in developing crystallography solutions, is proud to announce that they will be installing the first XtaLAB Synergy-ED electron diffractometer in Europe at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) after having won a competitive tender. This will be the first customer order of a dedicated electron diffractometer installed outside Japan. This instrument will play a key role in ICIQ’s research: helping to resolve crystal structures of small organic molecules, organometallic complexes, MOFs, COFs, peptides, and big supramolecular entities that are encountered in most research branches in which they are involved.

The Rigaku XtaLAB Synergy-ED is the world’s first turnkey electron diffractometer. Developed by Rigaku and JEOL, it allows crystallographers to push past the limits of single crystal XRD and even synchrotrons, allowing them to elucidate structures from crystals smaller than 50 nm in some cases. 

Founded in 2000, ICIQ ranks in the top 10 research institutions in the world for chemistry. The addition of electron diffraction to their portfolio of analytical techniques will be an important enhancement that will help to improve the scientific contribution of the institution via many of its research groups. It will relieve bottlenecks in research workflows and industrial projects, where growing sufficiently sized crystals is otherwise problematic, thus, accelerating research outcomes as well as providing previously unobtainable results.

When asked about why the ICIQ team chose the Rigaku XtaLAB Synergy-ED, Dr. Eduardo C. Escudero-Adán, Manager of the Characterization Technologies Department at ICIQ, said, “We have tested the instrument in situ. The feeling was that we were in front of a well-finished equipment that fulfills our expectations in relation to the technique. One of the most outstanding points is the good integration of the software with the equipment, that allows an easy handling of the equipment by the user. It also highlights the fact of having low temperature measurement systems that have proven to be crucial for measuring sensitive samples.”

Eduardo C. Escudero-Adán and Jordi Benet-Buchholz from ICIQ (back left to right) during their visit to evaluate the XtaLAB Synergy-ED in Rigaku’s Tokyo laboratory with Sho Ito and Akihito Yamano from Rigaku (front left to right).

Dr. Mark Benson, General Manager, Global Sales and Marketing for Single Crystal for Rigaku, commented, “ICIQ already has Rigaku single crystal XRD systems so the transition to electron diffraction should be fairly trivial, given both systems use the same user-inspired CrystAlisPro software for instrument control and structural determination. We look forward to further supporting ICIQ in their research endeavors and seeing publications in the near future generated using this relatively new technology.”