11th Canadian Chemical Crystallography Workshop (CCCW20)

This meeting is now a virtual event, 19th – 22nd May 2020

The 11th Canadian Chemical Crystallography Workshop was scheduled to be hosted by the University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, immediately preceding the 103rd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (Winnipeg, MB, May 24-28, 2020). Consistent with the decision made by the Canadian Society for Chemistry with respect to CCCE2020, and out of concern for the health of our participants, instructors, and the larger community, the in-person component of CCCW20 has been cancelled, however, a virtual event is going ahead. and is targeted towards chemistry graduate students and post docs who would benefit from an improved understanding of the basic theory and practice of structure determination using single crystal X-ray diffraction methods.

Participants will work with the free Olex2 software (on their own laptops) and solve and refine several crystal structures, including one or two from their own research (Note: If you have a problem structure that you would like the instructors to help with, please arrange to also bring the original data/collection images.) Those who do not have access to a diffractometer can arrange to collect data in advance of the workshop. Several practice data sets will be supplied.

Short demonstrations and presentations will be spread out over the four days in order for the student to appreciate some of the theory and and practice behind the process. A vague recollection of wave addition, Fourier transforms, point groups, matrices, trig and algebra will be assumed, although explanations will usually be based on 3D visualizations and demonstrations rather than equations. Examples of some simple and some more difficult refinements will be presented, as well as hints on preparing CIFs for publication.