3D ED/microED has been attracting much attention because it enables structure analysis of crystals smaller than 1 μm. In this article, examples of crystal structure analysis and some applications of MicroED/3D ED will be presented.
Despite increasing demand for 3D ED/MicroED, measurement and analysis with this analytical technique has not been straightforward. Until recently, electron diffraction experiments were performed mainly as a function of general-purpose transmission electron microscopes. The hurdles were higher than those for X-ray structural analysis because it required an expert in electron microscopy to determine the optimal setting of the equipment for diffraction experiments. To address this situation, Rigaku and JEOL jointly developed an electron diffraction platform dedicated to 3D ED/ MicroED. The system is called XtaLAB Synergy-ED (Synergy-ED hereafter). With the Synergy-ED, anyone can easily perform electron diffraction experiments.