CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY LAB

UNIVERSITY of PITTSBURGH

Crystallographers:

Dr. Steven J. Geib, Research Associate Professor of Chemistry, Director of X-Ray Crystallographic Facility

Mr. Paul Badger, X-ray Graduate Assistant

Mr. Ryan DaRe, Ms. Rosa Melendez, Mr. Kevin D. John and Dr. Joseph Manna, X-Ray Graduate Assistants Emeritus

Welcome(audio)

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Facilities

The Diffracto-Cam

Sorry, our diffracto-cam is broken, but here is a link to the PittChemCam, which shows the view from the X-ray Lab window. Live video for about 10 seconds; if you missed it, click reload. This video allows us to monitor our experiment when we're away from the lab. Read below about "What We Do" with X-ray Diffraction.

The Chemistry Department X-ray Crystallography Lab is located on the third floor of the Chevron Science Center. We have a Nicolet/Siemens/Bruker P3 diffractometer (sealed-tube Mo radiation, pictured above) which is controlled via Siemens P3/PC software. We also have access to a Rigaku AFC5R (MSC Corp.) diffractometer (Cu rotating anode) which is located in the Biology Department here at Pitt. We are equipped for low-temperature data collection.

We use primarily the Siemens SHELXTL package (which we used to produce the pictures on this page and in our gallery) for the solution, refinement and visualization of X-ray structures. Other programs we have found useful include Platon from Dr. A.L. Spek, Babel from U. of AZ, and the Cambridge Structural Database.

What We Do

We use X-ray diffraction to determine the three-dimensional structure of organic and inorganic molecules which have been created in the various synthetic research groups here in the University of Pittsburgh Chemistry Department. We also collaborate with chemists outside the university. A Gallery of some favorite structures can be found here. Click here for a tutorial on X-ray diffraction. Click here for a bio of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (discoverer of X-rays). Röntgen won one of several Nobel Prizes for research with X-rays.

Some Crystallography Servers

The Crystallography Online

American Crystallographic Association Home Page

Our X-Ray Gallery

Pittsburgh Diffraction Society and Conference Homepage

ACA Service Crystallography SIG Homepage

Crystal Samples suitable for X-ray diffraction.

Some Other Useful Servers

The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Chemistry

Pitt Department of Chemistry

Search.Com...web site of searching engines!


For information about the Pitt Chemistry X-ray Crystallography Lab (or this fabulous WWW page) or to inquire about submitting crystals for X-ray analysis, contact:

Steven Geib (geib@pitt.edu)
Department of Chemistry
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260