R&D winner of the day: Electron Diffractometer

Electron Diffraction (ED) is on the verge of a major breakthrough and ELDICO Scientific’s Electron Diffractometer is here for it. The diffractometer directly identifies previously unsolvable structures from nano-crystalline materials which today are difficult or impossible to crystallize or, due to their nature and size, cannot be crystallized by conventional methods. For example, in drug discovery hundreds of thousands of known but not fully characterized crystalline compounds could be rapidly screened for their scientific or commercial potential. This applies also for many other fields, such as MOFs, zeolithes, minerals and natural products. The use of continuous rotation produces electron diffraction data similar to that obtained in X-ray diffraction, allowing existing X-ray software to be used, reducing development cost and users’ adoption. The diffractometer also uses low-dose radiation and equips the instrument with a cryo system to avoid damage of biological molecules, allowing proteins and virus analysis. With a horizontal design and an innovative probe-handling mechanism, the dedicated Electron Diffractometer will produce important structural information faster, with better quality and at lower cost.