Portal:Xray Crystallography

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The Xray Crystallography Portal

Welcome to the X-ray Crystallography Wikipedia Portal. X-ray crystallography is the study of the structure of proteins using X-rays.

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Structure determination by X-ray crystallography
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Structure determination by X-ray crystallography

X-ray crystallography is a technique in crystallography in which the pattern produced by the diffraction of X-rays through the closely spaced lattice of atoms in a crystal is recorded and then analyzed to reveal the nature of that lattice. This generally leads to an understanding of the material and molecular structure of a substance. The spacing in the crystal lattice can be determined using Bragg's law. The electrons that surround the atoms, rather than the atomic nuclei themselves, are the entities that physically interact with the incoming X-ray photons. This technique is widely used in chemistry and biochemistry to determine the structures of an immense variety of molecules, including inorganic compounds, DNA, and proteins. X-ray diffraction is commonly carried out using single crystals of a material, but if these are not available, microcrystalline powdered samples may also be used, although this requires different equipment, gives less information, and is much less straightforward.

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An X-ray diffraction image for the protein myoglobin.
An X-ray diffraction image for the protein myoglobin
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Xray Crystallography topics

Crystal Growth X-ray Generation Diffraction Crystal Symmetry
Waves Refinement Crystal Systems Techniques
' Programs Measurements


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