Introduction
Single-crystal electron diffraction (SC-ED), also known as microED/3DED offers access to smaller samples than are possible with X-ray diffraction techniques. Whilst currently available home lab X-ray sources offer the possibility to study samples down to only 1 micron in their smallest dimension, in many cases it is difficult or impossible to grow crystalline material of sufficient volume and quality to meet this requirement. Cases where material is limited or of lower quality are particularly
challenging.
One such field where crystallization can be an obstacle is determining the stereochemistry of degradation products of biologically active compounds such as fungicides.
Electron diffraction can provide three-dimensional structural information on samples as small as a few tens or hundreds of nanometer in thickness. This makes it a valuable tool for cases where the above issues exist
The Syngenta product SOLATENOL™ is a commercial fungicide used in agriculture. A degradant of this compound was selected in order to demonstrate the ability to resolve stereochemistry by diffraction methods. This sample was analyzed after synthesis and purification, with no attempts at crystallization, using only a few milligrams of sample.
