Structure solution from powder neutron and x-ray diffraction data: getting the best of both worlds

Full text: Powder diffraction methods have traditionally been used in three main areas: phase identification and quantification, lattice parameter determination and structure refinement. Until recently structure solution has been the almost exclusive domain of single crystal diffraction methods, predominantly using x-rays. The increasing use of synchrotron and neutron sources, and the unrelenting advances in computing hardware and software means that powder methods are challenging single crystal methods as a practical method for structure solution, especially when single crystal method can not be applied. It is known that structural refinements from a known starting structure using combined X-ray and neutron data sets are capable of providing highly accurate structures. Likewise, using combined x-ray and neutron powder diffraction data in the structure solution process should also be a powerful technique, although to date no one is pursuing this methodology. This paper present examples of solutions to the problem. Namely we are using high resolution powder X-ray and neutron methods to solve the structures of molecular materials and minerals, then refining the structures using both sets of data. In this way we exploit the advantages of both methods while minimising the disadvantages. We present our solution for a small amino acid structure, a metalorganic and a mineral structure