CHEM 712/7120 - X-Ray Crystallography
Semester: Fall 2025
Professor: D. Soldatov | Discipline: Inorganic | Campus: GuelphDescription
Introduction into chemical crystallography and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The course provides basic theoretical background for understanding crystal structures and other XRD data reported in the literature and databases. The course also covers theoretical and practical aspects of the XRD analysis, including interaction of X-rays with matter, theoretical description of diffraction, experimental methods, instrumentation, preparation of samples, and the usage of software.
https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/home
Contact info, course materials, detailed schedule of classes (calendar), due dates, and other information.
Materials
Lecture Notes (required text) and Tutorial Notes will be available as pdf files from the
course website at no charge. It is responsibility of the student to have these materials
printed whenever needed.
Other resources and links will be posted on the course website.
A number of general texts and web resources may be used; some optional texts are listed below:
AR West, Solid State Chemistry and Its Applications, Wiley, 1984 (1st ed) or 2014 (2nd ed)
DE Sands, Introduction to Crystallography, Dover Publications, 1993 (Dover ed)
C Hammond, The Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction, IUCr and Oxford Univ. Press, 2009 (3rd ed)
GH Stout and LH Jensen, X-Ray Structure Determination: A Practical Guide, Macmillan Co, 1968 (1st ed) or Wiley, 1989 (2nd ed)
JP Glusker and KN Trueblood, Crystal Structure Analysis. A Primer, IUCr and Oxford Univ. Press, 2010 (3rd ed)
W Massa, Crystal Structure Determination, Springer, 2004 (2nd ed)
W Borchardt-Ott, Crystallography, Springer, 1995 (2nd ed)
C Giacovazzo et al, Fundamentals of Crystallography, IUCr and Oxford University Press, 2011 (3rd ed)
P Müller (ed.), Crystal Structure Refinement. A Crystallographer’s Guide to SHELXL, IUCr and Oxford Univ. Press, 2006
Evaluation
Three take-home assignments (15% each), F2F midterm exam (25%), and F2F final exam (30%). Exams are open-book. Late submission of assignments may be subject to 10% grade reduction per day. Auditing students must acquire min 50% grade.
Asnt #1 Available: TBD Due: TBD
Asnt #2 Available: TBD Due: TBD
Asnt #3 Available: TBD Due: TBD
Midterm TBD
Final During the week of December 1-5 – exact date and time
to be arranged by student consensus.
Note that the dates and format of the examinations can change due to
the university closures or other circumstances.
MISSED CLASS / EXAM
In case of a missed class, the student is encouraged to self-study using resources available from the course website, to request notes from other students, and to talk to the Instructor during Office Hours.
In case of a missed examination, the student is encouraged to contact the Instructor ahead of time whenever possible, or immediately after. Alternative arrangements or other options will be attempted.
If the student needs an extension, s/he must contact the Instructor ahead of time.
Lab/Project
The course lecture material is divided into eight Modules. The Modules include lecture and tutorial class time.
Part I Crystallography (~10 classes)
Module 1. Crystals and symmetry: basics.
Module 2. From crystal systems to space groups.
Module 3. Crystallographic resources and crystal chemistry.
Part II Crystal structure analysis: theoretical aspects (~6 classes)
Module 4. X-Rays and diffraction.
Module 5. Theory of crystal structure analysis.
Part III Crystal structure analysis: practical aspects (~6 classes)
Module 6. X-Ray diffraction techniques.
Module 7. Sample preparation.
Module 8. Structure solution and refinement.
Schedule
- Tue: 7:00 pm - 8:20 pm in MacN 101
- Thu: 7:00 pm - 8:20 pm in MacN 101
