Read about the launch of new products, global installations, a Bioscience lab opening in Cambridge, and Rigaku's listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, alongside insightful articles and reviews!
I was saddened to learn Sine Larsen died on January 2nd. I remember her as a believer in “a rising tide raises all boats” and found her to be a great scientist and leader. I am sorry I never took her up on the offer to have dinner at her farmhouse when I won a bet. The lesson there is to never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
I was also saddened to see Fraser Stoddart died recently. In a rather fitting twist of fate, his most recent Nature paper is listed in Crystallography in the News below.
Pierre, Jessica, Sean and I participated in a ribbon cutting for the XtaLAB Synergy-ED at Yale University on January 9. Look for posts and reposts on social media for pictures of the event. When you are in New Haven, don’t forget to get pizza from Frank Pepe’s, a pizzeria with a traditional coal-fired pizza oven.
Christian Göb provides the Tip of the Month. Jeanette’s conflict of interest is limited to books by her employer, so she will continue to review. This is particularly good news for me since no one has volunteered to review books. Her first review of the year will appear in February.
Lastly, I wanted to let you know that CrysAlisPro Version 44 is now available. Jakub Wojciechowski provides a detailed explanation on how to upgrade from your current version to the latest version.
The RSfPC is a course aimed at newcomers to crystallography and focuses on the practical aspects of crystallography with 10 lectures covering approx 10 hours and a course exam at the end.
The Rigaku School for Practical Crystallography was created during the pandemic to help fill the gap left by the cancellation of many regional crystallographic teaching schools. Thanks to the positive response over the past four years, it has continued to grow. Now offered on-demand, the course aims to make learning more accessible by overcoming time-zone challenges and reaching a wider audience.
We’re excited to welcome new students to the Rigaku School for Practical Crystallography.
Our LinkedIn groupshares information and fosters discussion about X-ray crystallography and SAXS topics. Connect with other research groups and receive updates on how they use these techniques in their own laboratories. You can also catch up on the latest newsletter or Rigaku Journal issue. We also hope that you will share information about your own research and laboratory groups.
Atrigakuxrayforum.comyou can find discussions about software, general crystallography issues and more. It’s also the place to download the latest version of Rigaku Oxford Diffraction’sCrysAlisProsoftware for single crystal data processing.
A new version of CrysAlisPro, 171.44, is here. To learn more about the advanced helpful tools and improved workflows, check out the Tip of the Month. If you still do not use the most comprehensive software solution for X-ray and electron crystallography, contact Rigaku to get your free copy. If you already have it, here is how to upgrade your personal and data collection computers.
No matter where you are in CrysAlisPro, every function is just three clicks away. Use the built-in check version tool or download installation files from our user forum. If you have never used our update tool before, here are some useful tips. To get started, click on the news icon (1) at the bottom right of the main window of CrysAlisPro to open the newsfeed window. Here you will find direct links to our social media posts and YouTube content, as well as this Newsletter. If an update is available, you will see a link to a Check Version tool (2) in the Software updates section. Click it to open the next window.
In the new window, locate the section labeled Ver. 44 Release candidates (some installments of CrysAlisPro mistakenly label it as a beta version, but don’t worry. Every version above 171.44.88 is a release version). Now click on the Download (3a) button to get your copy of the installer for the 64-bit version of MS Windows. If your data collection computer requires the 32-bit version, please choose the button (3b). Now just wait for the downloader to finish. If you want to update immediately, answer Yes on the last pop-up window and follow the installation wizard. If you need a copy of the installation to update your offline computer, you canopen the downloaded folder using the button in the top right corner. On the bottom you will find the Uninstaller toolthat will allow you to clean up older copies of the software without going to the system settings.
When you are done with installation and cleaning up, don’t forget to update the AutoChem pipeline, for the full CrysAlisPro experience. Open the just-installed version 171.44 and you can try an alternative three click route by opening Service window (1), locating thecheck version button (2) and download (3) the latest Structure Explorer and AutoChem7. Get more packages, like ED and Xtal-Check tools from the menu on the bottom right side of the window.
And that is it! You are set for all the new crystallographic challenges of 2025. Keep your eyes on the news icon for the latest software releases and upcoming webinars and events!
ACA Summer Course for Chemical Crystallography
The 2025 ACA Summer Course, which will be conducted at Northwestern University from June 2-2-29, 2025, is open for registration at Application 2025 | ACA Summer Course.
As a reminder, the ACA Summer Course in Chemical Crystallography program is now in its third decade of instruction in the United States. The current incarnation of the course is directed towards single crystal chemical crystallography and powder diffraction techniques as applicable to small molecule studies. The course is designed to instruct attendees in the theory and practice of these two aspects of crystallography.
The course is held every summer, in even years at Purdue University, and in odd years at Northwestern University.
No prior knowledge of crystallography is expected from attendees. However, a good understanding of undergraduate-level chemistry, physics and mathematics is desirable. While the course is geared towards graduate-level attendees, applications from strong undergraduate students will be considered. Past course attendees have included faculty members and industrial researchers.
A system any X-ray crystallographer will find intuitive to operate
XtaLAB Synergy-ED is a new and fully integrated electron diffractometer, creating a seamless workflow from data collection to structure determination of three-dimensional molecular structures. The key feature of this product is that it provides researchers an integrated platform enabling easy access to electron crystallography. The XtaLAB Synergy-ED is a system any X-ray crystallographer will find intuitive to operate without having to become an expert in electron microscopy.
XtaLAB Synergy-ED Overview
The XtaLAB Synergy-ED is the result of an innovative collaboration between Rigaku and JEOL, to synergistically combine our core technologies: Rigaku’s high-speed, high-sensitivity photon-counting detector (HyPix-ED) and state-of-the-art instrument control and single crystal analysis software platform (CrysAlisPro for ED), and JEOL’s long-term expertise and market leadership in designing and producing transmission electron microscopes.
The XtaLAB Synergy-ED was designed to address the increasing need to investigate smaller and smaller samples in structural research. With X-ray crystallography, the smallest possible crystal dimension is 1 micron, and only then when utilizing the brightest X-ray sources and noise free detectors. However, there is an increasing need for the structure analysis of substances that only form microcrystals, crystals that are only a few hundred nanometers or less in size. In recent years, a new analytical method, MicroED, also known as 3D ED, has been developed that uses diffraction of electron beams to measure three-dimensional molecular structures from nanocrystalline materials. Researchers developing this technique have relied on general-purpose electron microscopes and a combination of microscopy software for measuring diffraction data, and public domain X-ray crystallography software for data processing and structure determination. Even for researchers skilled in both electron microscopy and crystallography, the resulting collection and processing workflows are often involved and throughput-limiting. Also, instruments mainly optimized for imaging tasks often require time-consuming alignments and calibrations, making the sharing of an instrument sometimes difficult, while still yielding sub-optimal data quality.
The XtaLAB Synergy-ED is a dedicated electron diffractometer that is operated by the same control software that is used to run Rigaku’s X-ray diffractometers and includes a complete integrated pipeline from instrument control, sample selection and diffraction measurement to data processing and structure solution, including powerful automation features. Previous experience with electron microscopes is not required even for advanced usage. An optimized electron optical configuration eliminates the need for frequent alignment and calibrations, while Rigaku’s HyPix-ED detector ensures ultimate data quality even at vanishingly low radiation doses. This instrument can easily be installed in an existing X-ray crystallography facility, where researchers and students will be able to easily master the MicroED/3D ED technique since the software workflow is the same as for an X-ray diffractometer. Having such an instrument installed in an X-ray facility immediately provides structure determination for materials that only form nanocrystals.
Tip of the Month
Frame Masking Tools
By Christian Göb
What is the issue?
Certain areas of diffraction images can sometimes be masked to improve data analysis. Diffraction images from high-pressure experiments may exhibit features of the diamond anvil or the gasket material, which could hamper determination of the unit cell. Another case is when area detectors exhibit untreated bad pixels, which may happen, for example, in foreign datasets from synchrotrons.
How to apply masks?
CrysAlisPro allows you to mask rectangular features and ring-based (d-value) features.
Rectangular features:
Drag a box around the feature you want to mask with your mouse by holding down the left mouse button. Click on the right mouse button and select [Reject rectangle].
This feature can be used for single images (choose run and frame number) or for the whole dataset (choose run and frame number as zeros).
The masked area can be displayed by choosing [Show reject rectangle] in the submenu next to the RED/USER switch.
Ring-based features:
First select the [Line select (for skip d-value)] via a right mouse button click.
Then the range of d-values which should be excluded from data analysis can be selected on the diffraction image. Click the right mouse button and select [Skip d-value].
The masked area can be displayed by choosing [Skip d-value overlay] in the submenu of RED/USER as before.
Crystals in the News
December 5, 2024
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute report that a single mutation inbovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutininswitches specificity to human receptors.
Scientists from Australia, China, Italy and the US report thestereospecific assembly of dynamic supramolecular snub cubesfrom 12 helical macrocycles that are enantiomerically pure and have external diameters of 5.1 nm, contain 2,712 atoms and chiral cavities with volumes of 6,215 Å3.
