Is there some sort of consensus on what properties make a crystal diffract well or poorly? For example, solvent content is assumed to be critical. What else? Can crystals even grow if there is short-range (less than beam radius) disorder?
Thanks, V. Nagarajan JAN Scientific, Inc. http://janscientific.com -----Original Message----- From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk] On Behalf Of James Holton Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 11:04 AM To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Phantom Crystals [deleted] Nevertheless, I think it is still up in the air how much diffraction tends to be degraded by crystal handling vs crystals just being "born ugly", as the proper control (shooting crystals without handling them) has not been done on anything but a few test cases. In fact, I have heard enough stories about ugly crystals diffracting very well and beautiful crystals diffracting poorly to wonder if these two qualities really are anticorellated. That is, beauty really is just "skin deep" (and ugly goes to the core). I think it will be telling to see what sort of results we get from the now several available "in-situ" diffraction systems <shameless plug>one of which myself and others developed with Fluidigm, who are now selling them</shameless plug>. -James Holton MAD Scientist
