X Ray Crystallography Essay

X-ray Crystallography is a method used to obtain the molecular information of a material through the diffraction pattern. This method helps the development of the fields of the science, because it can be used to any crystalline compound (introduçao)

The macroscopic structure of the crystals have long been getting attention for the fact of having certain regularity and symmetry. The crystalline structure is evident because most of them have a strong crystalline habit, which is the external pattern shape of the material, and this way a crystal can be easily distinguish from other solids. The first report about crystals was in Ancient Rome, with the naturalist Pliny the Elder’s book “Natural History”, where he described his geographic observations

It’s also possible to use oils and liquids, but they need to be frozen while they’re placed in the sample plate in the spectrometer. Usually the spectrometer uses liquid nitrogen connected in a bomb to decreases the sample’s temperature until the temperature needed to the sample be solid, and as the air molecules are present in the air around the sample, when the temperature to solidify the sample is below the water solidification temperature. It’s needed to use a vacuum bomb, so the sample won’t be contaminated with the water crystals on it’s

A pharmaceutical company looking for a new drug for fighting bacteria or virus must first find a molecule capable of inhibiting active proteins (enzymes) which are involved in the attack of human cells. Knowing the exact form of the protein allows scientists to design the composition of the active substances of the drug that can be fixed on the active sites of the protein, and thus stop their harmful activity. Crystallography is also essential to distinguish different solid forms of a drug. These forms can be soluble under different conditions, which influences the effectiveness of the