Diffraction techniques, physical chemistry course

Like group theory, diffraction techniques ebb from and flow into physical chemistry courses. 1 think X-ray diffraction, at least, should be presented because it is so central to molecular biology and the steady state. Moreover, it provides an excellent opportunity for demonstrating the power of Fourier transforms in the understanding of physical phenomena. Indeed, it could be very interesting to develop a Fourier course that embraced diffraction and modem techniques of spectroscopy. 

Two papers reported powder pattern crystallographic results. The paper by Santos et al. (7) stood out from the rest because it presented a collection of more classical physical chemistry experiments. In this paper the authors described the use of micro-combustion calorimetry, Knudsen effusion to determine enthalpy of sublimation, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and computed entropies. While this paper may provide some justification for including bomb calorimetry and Knudsen cell experiments in student laboratories, the use of differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction also are alternatives that would make for a crowded curriculum. Thus, how can we choose content for the first physical chemistiy course that shows the currency of the discipline while maintaining the goal to teach the fundamentals and standard techniques as well ... 

Associations such as the American Crystallographic Association provide detailed information on the education needed to pursue a career in diffraction analysis. Courses in physics, chemistry, and higher mathematics form the basis for later study in specialized diffraction techniques, mineralogy, or metallography. If, for example, a person wishes to pursue a career in feilure analysis, courses in fracture mechanics, fractography, and corrosion testing and... 

As anticipated, the multipolar model is not the only technique available to refine electron density from a set of measured X-ray diffracted intensities. Alternative methods are possible, for example the direct refinement of reduced density matrix elements [73, 74] or even a wave function constrained to X-ray structure factor (XRCW) [75, 76]. Of course, in all these models an increasing amount of physical information is used from theoretical chemistry methods and of course one should carefully consider how experimental is the information obtained. 

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