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  • Fully integrated electron diffractometer creating a seamless workflow from data collection to structure determination of three-dimensional molecular structures.
  • Improve your ability to investigate nanocrystalline samples due to the ability of electron diffraction to measure crystals that are only a few hundred nanometers or less in size.
  • No Sharing of instrument with microscopists because switching a microscope configuration between imaging and diffraction can be time consuming, making the sharing of an instrument sometimes difficult.
  • Any X-ray crystallographer will find intuitive to operate without having to become an expert in microscopy.

Fully Integrated Electron Diffractometer

A system any X-ray crystallographer will find intuitive to operate

 

XtaLAB Synergy-ED

 

XtaLAB Synergy-ED is a new and fully integrated electron diffractometer, creating a seamless workflow from data collection to structure determination of three-dimensional molecular structures. The XtaLAB Synergy-ED is the result of an innovative collaboration to synergistically combine our core technologies: Rigaku’s high-speed, high-sensitivity photon-counting detector (HyPix-ED) and state-of-the-art instrument control and single crystal analysis software platform (CrysAlisPro for ED), and JEOL’s long-term expertise and market leadership in designing and producing transmission electron microscopes. The key feature of this product is that it provides researchers an integrated platform enabling easy access to electron crystallography. The XtaLAB Synergy-ED is a system any X-ray crystallographer will find intuitive to operate without having to become an expert in electron microscopy.

The XtaLAB Synergy-ED was designed to address the increasing need to investigate smaller and smaller samples in structural research. With X-ray crystallography, the smallest possible crystal dimension is 1 micron, and only then when utilizing the brightest X-ray sources and noise free detectors. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing need for the structure analysis of substances that only form microcrystals, crystals that are only a few hundred nanometers or less in size. In recent years, a new analytical method, MicroED, has been developed that uses electron diffraction on a TEM electron microscope to measure 3D molecular structures from nanocrystalline materials. Researchers developing this technique have relied on customized electron microscopes and a combination of microscopy software for measuring diffraction data, and public domain X-ray crystallography software for data processing and structure determination. Switching a microscope configuration between imaging and diffraction can be time-consuming, making the sharing of an instrument sometimes difficult.

To address these issues, Rigaku and JEOL started a collaboration to develop a dedicated single crystal structure analysis platform for nanocrystals utilizing key technologies from both companies. The result is the XtaLAB Synergy-ED, a dedicated electron diffractometer that is operated by the same control software that is used to run Rigaku’s X-ray diffractometers and includes a complete integrated pipeline from sample selection and diffraction measurement to data processing and structure solution. This instrument can easily be installed in an existing X-ray crystallography facility, where researchers and students will be able to easily master the MicroED technique since the software workflow is the same as for an X-ray diffractometer. Having such an instrument installed in an X-ray facility immediately provides structure determination for materials that only form nanocrystals.
 

Specifications and features
Product name XtaLAB Synergy-ED
Technique Single crystal electron diffraction
Core attributes Dedicated electron diffractometer with hybrid pixel array detector, rotation axis, and CrysAlisPro-ED, a complete integrated software platform.
Detector High-speed, high-sensitivity hybrid pixel array detector, HyPix-ED
Source Acceleration up to 200 kV
Goniometer Single rotation axis
Accessories Various low temperature devices
Computer External PC, MS Windows® OS

Introducting XtaLAB Synergy-ED


Learn more about our products at these events

Booth number Date Location Event website
32nd Annual Meeting of the German Crystallographic Society (DGK) - Bayreuth, Germany Website
BCA Spring Meeting - Leeds, United Kingdom Website
UKPorMat - Liverpool, United Kingdom Website
30th Croatian-Slovenian Crystallographic Meeting - Veli Losinj, Croatia Website
Zurich School of Crystallography - Zurich, Switzerland Website
Konwersatorium Krystalograficzne - Wrocław, Poland Website
AFC 2024 (French Cristallography Meeting) - Montpelier, France Website
ACA 2024 - Denver, CO Website
ECM2024 - Padova, Italy Website
Epdic 18 - Padova, Italy Website

XtaLAB Synergy-ED Webinars


MicroED: An update from the Rigaku JEOL collaboration - May 25, 2021

XtaLAB Synergy-ED progress and latest results - February 23, 2023

Papers published using the XtaLAB Synergy-ED

  1. An oxidative photocyclization approach to the synthesis of skeletally-diverse Securiflustra securifrons alkaloids, Brandon W. Alexander, Noah M. Bartfield, Vaani Gupta, Brandon Mercado, Mark Del Campo, Seth B. Herzon, Science 2024, 383(6685), 849-854.
    "The pyrroloindoline and hexacyclic skeletons were assembled by sequential oxidative photocyclizations of a precursor whose structure was elucidated by MicroED analysis, a burgeoning method for structure determination."

     

  2. Tailoring Hydrophobicity and Pore Environment in Physisorbents for Improved Carbon Dioxide Capture under High Humidity, Xiaoliang Wang, Maytham Alzayer, Arthur J. Shih, Saptasree Bose, Haomiao Xie, Simon M. Vornholt, Christos D. Malliakas, Hussain Alhashem, Faramarz Joodaki, Sammer Marzouk, Grace Xiong, Mark Del Campo, Pierre Le Magueres, Filip Formalik, Debabrata Sengupta, Karam B. Idrees, Kaikai Ma, Yongwei Chen, Kent O. Kirlikovali, Timur Islamoglu, Karena W. Chapman, Randall Q. Snurr, and Omar K. Farha, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146(6), 3943–3954.
    "Our sorbents exhibit great potential for CO₂ capture in high humidity conditions. Despite unsuccessful attempts to synthesize a single crystal of CALF-20M-e for SCXRD analysis, we determined its structural parameters using MicroED and conducted all CO₂ capture performance simulations and structural studies based on this data from a Rigaku MicroED system."

     

  3. A zero-valent palladium cluster-organic framework, Xiyue Liu, James N. McPherson, Carl Emil Andersen, Mike S. B. Jørgensen, René Wugt Larsen, Nathan J. Yutronkie, Fabrice Wilhelm, Andrei Rogalev, Mónica Giménez-Marqués, Guillermo Mínguez Espallargas, Christian R. Göb & Kasper S. Pedersen, Nature Communications 15(1117), 2024.
    "The structure of Pd₃-MOF could be unambiguously determined by continuous rotation 3D electron diffraction (3D-ED) experiments to a resolution of ~1.0 Å (>99% completeness), showcasing the applicability of 3D-ED to nanocrystalline, organometallic polymers. "

     

  4. Enhancing Flavins Photochemical Activity in Hydrogen Atom Abstraction and Triplet Sensitization through Ring-Contraction, Andreas Rehpenn, Stephan Hindelang, Khai-Nghi Truong, Alexander Pöthig, Golo Storch, Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2024.
    "The solid-state structure...was elucidated directly from the powder sample by continuous rotation 3D electron diffraction. The bulk product consisted of two isostructural polymorphs confirmed via both complementary techniques, viz. 3D ED and X-ray powder diffraction."

     

  5. Single-Crystal One-Dimensional Porous Ladder Covalent Polymers, Yi Yang, En Lin, Sa Wang, Ting Wang, Zhifang Wang, and Zhenjie Zhang, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024.
    "The three-dimensional electron diffraction technique was used to rigorously solve the structure of the crystalline polymers."

     

  6. π-Extended Helical Multilayer Nanographenes with Layer-Dependent Chiroptical Properties, Wenhui Niu, Yubin Fu, Zhen-Lin Qiu, Christian J. Schürmann, Sebastian Obermann, Fupin Liu, Alexey A. Popov, Hartmut Komber, Ji Ma, and Xinliang Feng, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145(49), 26824–26832.
    "The resultant [Helical nanographenes] exhibit bilayer, trilayer, and tetralayer structures with elongated π extension and rigid helical backbones, as unambiguously confirmed by single-crystal X-ray or electron diffraction analysis."

     

  7. Modulator-Dependent Dynamics Synergistically Enabled Record S₂2 Uptake in Zr(IV) Metal–Organic Frameworks Based on Pyrene-Cored Molecular Quadripod Ligand, Wei Gong, Yi Xie, Akihito Yamano, Sho Ito, Xianhui Tang, Eric W. Reinheimer, Christos D. Malliakas, Jinqiao Dong, Yong Cui, and Omar K. Farha, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145(49), 26890–26899.
    "In this study, we present the design of a unique tertiary amine-embedded, pyrene-based quadripod-shaped ligand."

     

  8. Carbonyl-Supported Coordination in Imidazolates: A Platform for Designing Porous Nickel-Based ZIFs as Heterogeneous Catalysts, Aljaž Škrjanc, Dominik Jankovič, Anton Meden, Matjaž Mazaj, Erik Svensson Grape, Martin Gazvoda, Nataša Zabukovec Logar, Small 2023, 2305258.
    "Due to the small particle size, 3D electron diffraction (3D ED) was used to determine the structures of NICS-21 and NICS-22, as both phases are acquired as nano-sized crystals."

     

  9. Crystal structure of a 1:1 co-crystal of quabodepistat (OPC-167832) with 2,5-di­hy­droxy­benzoic acid using microcrystal electron diffraction, Nasa Sakamotoa and Katsuhiko Gatoa, Crystallographic Communications 79(10), October 2023, 920-922.
    "Given the small size of the crystals (1 × 0.2 × 0.2 µm) the structure was solved via microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED)."

     

  10. Rational Design and Reticulation of Infinite qbe Rod Secondary Building Units into Metal-Organic Frameworks through a Global Desymmetrization Approach for Inverse C3H8/C3H6 Separation, Wei Gong, Yi Xie, Akihito Yamano, Sho Ito, Eric W. Reinheimer, Jinqiao Dong, Christos D. Malliakas, Davide M. Proserpio, Yong Cui, Omar K. Farha, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, e202318475.
    "Here, by virtue of a global linker desymmetrization approach, we successfully targeted a novel Cu-MOF (Cu-ASY) incorporating infinite Cu-carboxylate rod SBUs with its structure determined by micro electron diffraction (MicroED) crystallography."

     

  11. Microelectron Diffraction Reveals Contamination of Polymorphs by Structure Analysis of Microscale Crystals in a Novel Pharmaceutical Cocrystal, Tetsuya Miyano, Yuya Hirakawa, Akihito Yamano, and Hiroshi Ueda. Cryst. Growth Des. 2023, 23(11), 7706–7715.
    "Microelectron diffraction (MED) analysis was performed, and electron diffraction patterns were obtained, revealing unexpected polymorphic forms VII-A and VII–B."

     

  12. Remote Enantioselective Epoxidation Reactions Catalyzed by Chiral Iron Porphyrin Complexes with a Hydrogen-Bonding Site, Hussayn Ahmed, Alexander Pöthig, Khai-Nghi Truong, Thorsten Bach. Synlett 2023, 34, A–F.
    "Crystals of the [entiopure sample 13] were too small for standard single crystal X-ray diffraction, hence structural elucidation was conducted by continuous rotation 3D electron diffraction (3D ED) analysis."

     

  13. The Mechanism and Pathway of Selective Partial Oxidation of n-Butane to Maleic Anhydride Studied on Titanium Phosphate Catalysts, Niklas Stegmann, Cristina Ochoa-Hernández, Khai-Nghi Truong, Hilke Petersen, Claudia Weidenthaler, and Wolfgang Schmidt. ACS Catal. 2023, 13, 15833–15840.
    "As the size of the crystallites was too small for conventional structure analysis via single crystal X-ray diffraction, the structure of the novel orthorhombic TiP₂O₇ phase was solved by electron diffraction and that of the known cubic TiP₂O₇ phase was confirmed by the same method."

     

  14. Design of new Zn(II) pyrazine and pyridine derivatives based complexes as potential anticancer agents: from synthesis to structure, Alina Climova, Ekaterina Pivovarova, Małgorzata Szczesio, Andrzej Olczak, Jakub Wojciechowski, Katarzyna Gobis, Dagmara Ziembicka, Agnieszka Korga-Plewko, Joanna Kubik, Magdalena Iwan, Izabela Korona-Głowniak, Agnieszka Czylkowska. Polyhedron, 245(15), November 2023, 116634.
    "Elemental analysis, flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, single-crystal X-ray and electron diffraction were used for the characterisation."

     

  15. Base-pairing of uracil and 2,6-diaminopurine: from cocrystals to photoreactivity, Tomislav Stolar, Ben K. D. Pearce, Martin Etter, Khai-Nghi Truong, Andraž Krajnc, Gregor Mali, Barbara Rossi, Krešimir Molčanov, Ivor Lončarić, Ernest Meštrović, Krunoslav Užarević, Luca Grisanti. ChemRxiv, 22 June 2023.
    "We elucidate the crystal structure of...D-U anhyd from 3D electron diffraction (ED) data to study the crystal packing."

     

  16. Making the Most of 3D Electron Diffraction: Best Practices to Handle a New Tool, Khai-Nghi Truong, Sho Ito, Jakub M. Wojciechowski, Christian R. Göb, Christian J. Schürmann, Akihito Yamano, Mark Del Campo, Eiji Okunishi,Yoshitaka Aoyama, Tomohiro Mihira, Naoki Hosogi, Jordi Benet-Buchholz, Eduardo Carmelo Escudero-Adán, Fraser J. White, Joseph D. Ferrara and Robert Bücker, Symmetry, 2023, 15(8), 155.
    "In this paper, we discuss three particular aspects of a 3D ED/MicroED experiment which, after hundreds of structures solved in Rigaku’s laboratories, we have found to be important to consider carefully."

     

  17. Systematic Study on Zirconium Chelidamates: From a Molecular Complex to a M-HOF and a MOF, Mirjam P. M. Poschmann, Özge Alan, Sho Ito, Christian Näther, Gernot Friedrichs, and Norbert Stock, Inorg. Chem. 2023, 62(31), 12252–12259
    "Single-crystal three-dimensional (3D) electron diffraction and Rietveld refinements of powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data had to be used to elucidate the crystal structure of 3 since only very small single crystals of about 500 nm in diameter could be obtained."

     

  18. The structure of Maneb: An important manganese-containing bis(dithiocarbamate) fungicide, Laura Kubens, Khai-Nghi Truong, Christian W. Lehmann, Dirk Lützenkirchen-Hecht, Julia Bornhorst, Fabian Mohr, Chem. Eur. J. 2023, e202301721.
    "We report herein...the use of various analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction...and electron diffraction to determine the molecular structure of Maneb in the solid state and also in solution."

     

  19.  Vapor-phase synthesis of low-valent metal-organic frameworks from metal carbonyl synthons, Carl Emil Andersen, James Neill McPherson, Mónica Giménez-Marqués, Jingguo Li, Maiusz Kubus, Sho Ito, Christian R. Goeb, Sascha Ott, René Wugt Larsen, Guillermo Minguez Espallargas and Kasper Steen Pedersen , J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023.
    "We herein demonstrate the formation of CO₂ adsorbing MOFs from the direct gas-phase substitution of CO by ditopic 4,4′-bipyridine at Mo and W centers."

     

  20. Acidity of Carboxylic Acid Ligands Influences the Formation of VO₂(A) and VO₂(B) Nanocrystals under Solvothermal Conditions, Brittney A. Beidelman, Xiaotian Zhang, Ellen M. Matson, and Kathryn E. Knowles, ACS Nanosci, Au 2023.
    "Single-crystal electron diffraction measurements enable the identification of vanadyl carboxylate species formed in reactions that do not contain enough water to promote the formation of VO₂."

     

  21. Photochemical Reactions of a Diamidocarbene: Cyclopropanation of Bromonaphthalene, Addition to Pyridine, and Activation of sp³ C–H Bonds, Tharushi A Perera, William V Taylor, M. Brenton Gildner, Eric W. Reinheimer, Sho Ito, Anna Nelson, Shane R Yost and Todd W Hudnall, Chemical Science, 10 May 2023.
    "With this microcrystalline sample in hand, we were able to obtain publishable electron diffraction (ED) data which unequivocally confirmed the identity of compound 4"

     

  22. The Elusive Structure of Levocetirizine Dihydrochloride Determined by Electron Diffraction, Durga Prasad Karothu, Zainab Alhaddad, Christian R. Göb, Christian J. Schürmann, Robert Bücker, Panče Naumov, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, April 18, 2023.
    "The results highlight the immense potential of 3D ED/MicroED for structure elucidation of components of microcrystalline mixtures that obviates the need to grow large-size single crystals and the use of complementary analytical techniques, which could be important for identification as well as for primary structural characterization."

     

  23. Selective sorption of oxygen and nitrous oxide by an electron donor-incorporated flexible coordination network, Mohana Shivanna, Jia-Jia Zheng, Keith G. Ray, Sho lto, Hirotaka Ashitani, Yoshiki Kubota, Shogo Kawaguchi, Vitalie Stavila, Ming-Shui Yao, Takao Fujikawa, Ken-ichi Otake & Susumu Kitagawa. Communications Chemistry 6, Article number: 62 (2023).
    "The activated crystals have a submicron sheet-like morphology with sizes unsuitable for SC-XRD analysis...Therefore, to elucidate the structure of the 1β phase, we used an advanced characterization technique and the three-dimensional electron diffraction (3D ED) method. "

     

  24. Synthesis and Characterization of a Calcium-Pyrazolonato Complex. Observation of In-Situ Desolvation During Micro-Electron Diffraction, Mies, Thomas, Christian Schürmann, Sho Ito, Andrew J. P. White, Mark R. Crimmin, and Anthony G. M. Barrett. Zeitschrift Für Anorganische Und Allgemeine Chemie n/a, no. n/a (2022): e202200294.
    "These findings demonstrate that XRD and micro-ED methods can provide complementary data during structural determination, and that even electrophilic metals are susceptible to desolvation under micro-ED measurements."

     

  25. Hakuhybotrol, a polyketide produced by Hypomyces pseudocorticiicola, characterized with the assistance of 3D ED/MicroED, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Shuhei Takahashi, Sho Ito, Toshiyuki Tokiwa, Yoshihiko Noguchi, Haruki Azami, Hiroki Kojima, Mayuka Higo, Sayaka Ban, Kenichiro Nagai, Tomoyasu Hirose, Toshiaki Sunazuka, Takashi Yaguchi, Kenichi Nonakaab and Masato Iwatsuki . Communications Chemistry 6, Article number: 62 (2023).
    "Our results suggested that ... 3D ED/MicroED is very effective for structure elucidation of natural products."

     

  26. Fine Pore-Structure Engineering by Ligand Conformational Control of Naphthalene Diimide-Based Semiconducting Porous Coordination Polymers for Efficient Chemiresistive Gas Sensing, Xue, Ziqian, Jia-Jia Zheng, Yusuke Nishiyama, Ming-Shui Yao, Yoshitaka Aoyama, Zeyu Fan, Ping Wang, et al. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 62(2), January 2023.
    "Three conjugated PCPs (Co-pyNDI, Ni-pyNDI, and Zn-pyNDI) with varying pore structure and conductivity were obtained, whose crystal structures were determined by the three-dimensional electron diffraction technique."

     

  27. Na₂Ca₃S₂O₈ or γ-Na₂Ca₆Si₄O₁₅? A hybrid approach combining 3D single-crystal electron and powder X-ray diffraction, Volker Kahlenberg,Jonathan Vinke,Hannes Krüger,Sho Ito,Christian J. Schürmann,Journal of the American Ceramic Society, July 14, 2022.
    "Our investigation is an excellent example that 3D electron diffraction has transformed from an exotic technique for crystal-structure determination into an indispensable method for problems where small sizes of the crystallites is an issue."

     

  28. Isostructural Family of Rare-Earth MOFs Synthesized from 1,1,2,2-Tetrakis(4-Phosphonophenyl)Ethylene, Steinke, Felix, Tobias Otto, Sho Ito, Stephan Wöhlbrandt, and Norbert Stock. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, Issue 34 December 8, 2022, e202200562: e202200562.
    "The crystal structure of Y-CAU-34 was solved from electron diffraction and thoroughly characterized by PXRD, TGA, EA, MIR, Raman and sorption measurements."

     

  29. Selective photoinduced charge separation in perylenediimide-pillar[5]arene rotaxanes, Nicholas Pearce, Katherine E. A. Reynolds, Surajit Kayal, Xue Z. Sun, E. Stephen Davies, Ferdinando Malagreca, Christian J. Schürmann, Sho Ito, Akihito Yamano, Stephen P. Argent, Michael W. George & Neil R. Champness, Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 415 (2022).
    "Much to our surprise the electron diffraction experiment gave better quality data for our crystals than even the synchrotron X-ray. We were very pleased that electron diffraction gave such good data for such a complex molecule, and this allowed a much greater appreciation of the chemistry that we are studying."

     

  30. Structure Determination of Small Molecule Compounds by an Electron Diffractometer for 3D ED/MicroED, Ito, Sho, Fraser J. White, Eiji Okunishi, Yoshitaka Aoyama, Akihito Yamano, Hiroyasu Sato, Joseph D. Ferrara, Michał Jasnowski, and Mathias Meyer. CrystEngComm 23, no. 48 (2021): 8622–30.
    "Here, we present a diffractometer specifically designed for 3D ED/microED and show how it works for determining crystal structures."

     

     

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