Yale University chooses Rigaku X-ray diffraction (XRD) instruments for new chemistry instrumentation center

Rigaku Americas Corporation today announced that the Department of Chemistry at Yale University has chosen two Rigaku X-ray diffraction (XRD) instruments to form the core of their new center for X-ray diffraction. Both the Rigaku RAPID II and Rigaku SCXmini™ diffractometers will be housed in a new facility within the Chemical Instrumentation Center at the Sterling Chemistry Laboratory.

Funded internally by Yale University, the new center will both serve the extensive inter-departmental research needs of the University and position Yale as a global leader in crystallographic education. Equipped with a TEC-50 low temperature system, the benchtop SCXmini X-ray diffractometer will be employed for both graduate level research and undergraduate teaching, with "walk up" use available for graduate and post doctoral students. As the frontline research instrument for chemical (small molecule) crystallography, the RAPID II XRD system - with its large-area curved detector, X-stream™ 2000 low temperature system, rapid data collection and broad range of analytical capabilities - will enable collaborations that span from powder diffraction and thin film characterization to protein crystallography and art forensics.

Commenting on the choice of Rigaku, Dr. Christopher Incarvito, Director of the Chemical Instrumentation Center, explained that "it gives us the best of all worlds . . . more so than having two identical instruments." Elaborating on the synergy of having both a self-service, research-grade diffractometer (SCXmini) for routine student use along with a versatile, high-performance research XRD instrument (RAPID II), Dr. Incarvito added that "this is actually a significant advance over what we have now . . . more teaching and better collaboration with different departments and outside universities." Dr. Incarvito concluded his comments by saying that Yale is "planning to (formally) dedicate the facility upon arrival and installation of the equipment."

Tom McNulty, Vice President, Materials Analysis SBU at Rigaku, elaborated that "we are excited that Yale has chosen Rigaku equipment for the new chemistry instrumentation center. The complementary nature of RAPID II and SCXmini systems is ideal for the type of diversified facility Yale is building. We look forward getting the instruments installed and working with Yale in the future."

Featuring an advanced Mercury 2 CCD detector, the SCXmini represents a new paradigm in small molecule crystallography: affordable, reliable, easy-to-use, low cost-of-ownership access for routine automated structure determination. As the world's first benchtop single crystal X-ray diffraction system, the SCXmini provides colleges, universities, and industry with access to definitive molecular structure determination, enabling single crystal diffraction to become a routine laboratory method and teaching tool in the same way that NMR and FT-IR did more than a decade ago.

Incorporating the latest member of the RAPID family of large area curved imaging plate (IP) detectors, the RAPID II combines every component needed for a high performance X-ray diffraction system delivering no-compromise performance for applications spanning from applied crystallography to chemical crystallography. Typical applications include: high-resolution charge density measurement, micro-diffraction, diffuse scattering, measurement of weakly diffracting disordered materials, small molecule crystallography, wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), stress and texture measurements, as well as general purpose powder diffraction.