X–Ray Structure Determination

Closely follows an actual structural determination. After some introductory material on the nature of x–rays, the diffraction process, and the internal geometry of crystals, the selection and preparation of a crystal are considered. Techniques of measuring raw x–ray data are covered, plus their reduction into a useable form. The second part discusses both traditional and novel methods of solving the ``phase'' problem, the principal difficulty in x–ray structure determination. The third part considers how to extract the most information from the data and how to evaluate its reliability. Finally, there is a discussion of sources of error in practice and interpretation.