X-Ray, HRMS, and Polymer Characterization

Welcome to the Material Characterization Center (MCC) in Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology. The MCC is located in Dunbar Hall and is equipped with X-ray diffractometers, high-resolution mass spectrometer, TGA, DSC, and elemental analyzers. Specifically X-ray facility includes Single Crystal, Powder Diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence, and Thin Film Diffraction capabilities. The available elemental analysis includes C, H, and N analysis and standard polymer characterization. The MCC provides services for the needs of research groups within the university. The facility also provides services for those outside the NDSU.

Bruker Single Crystal X-Ray Diffractometer

This diffractomer is equipped with SAMRT CCD 1K area detector. The data are collected routinely at room temperature. Different Window supported software is installed in several computers for determination and visualization of the structures.

 

Phillips X'Pert MPD Powder X-Ray Diffractometer

X-Ray Powder Diffractmeter Phillips X’Pert MPD system with vertically mounted goniometer. The instrument is controlled by computers and can perform different scans for powder samples. The computer is also installed the PDF database for search-math job. The crystal structure can be solved by client package MS modeling through Center for High Performance Computing in North Dakota State University.

Bruker Daltronics BioTOF HRMS

High-resolution mass spectrometer Bruker Daltonics BioTOF system with high performance ESI, APCI and nESI sample introduction and ionization sources. The instrument is controlled by computer and data can be analyzed and simulated by DataAnalyzer software.

Perkin Elmer CHN Analyzer

The instrument can perform C, H, and N analysis.

 

Perkin Elmer TG/DTA7

TG/DT Analyzer Perkin Elmer TG/DTA7 system. The measure can be performed under different atmosphere.

 

Request Forms

The different request forms (PDF format, fillable) can be downloaded from the following links. We encourage you send the sample with filled forms. For further information, such as charge for each sample, please contact Hongshan He, Ph.D. (hongshan.he@ndsu.edu).

Singlextal Form
Powder Form

Resources and Links

Program for structure determination and visualization
1. SHELXL: a set of programs for crystal structure determination from single-crystal diffraction data. http://shelx.uni-ac.gwdg.de/SHELX

2. WinGx: a MS-Windows system of programs for solving, refining and analyzing single crystal X-ray diffraction data for small molecules. http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~louis/software/wingx/

3. PLANTON: a versatile SHELX97 compatible multipurpose crystallographic tool. http://www.cryst.chem.uu.nl/platon/

4. Reflex: a program that simulates X-ray, neutron, and electron powder diffraction patterns based on models of crystalline materials. It aids the determination of crystal structure, assists the interpretation of diffraction data, and is applied to validate the results of experiment and computation http://www.accelrys.com/products/mstudio/modeling/crystallization

5. Jade+: a program for pattern manipulation, overlays, peak finding, profile fitting, cell refinement, indexing an userfile search and match for powder diffraction. http://www.materialsdata.com/

6. ORTEP-3 for Windows: a computer program, written in Fortran, for drawing crystal structure illustrations http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~louis/software/ortep3/

7. Mercury: a comprehensive range of tools for structure visualization and the exploration of crystal packing. http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/free_services/

8. Rastop: molecular visualization software adapted from the program RasMol http://www.geneinfinity.org/rastop

9. Balls and Sticks: a program designed to create 3D pictures and animations of crystals. http://www.softbug.com/toycrate

Learning resources
1. Analytical X-ray Safety Training Tutorial by Division of Environmental Health and Safety, University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana. http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/rss/xray/xrayintro.htm

2. Crystallography 101 by Professor Bernhard Rupp, Department of Macromolecular Crystallography and Structural Genomics Group, UC-LLNL. Very good for beginners. http://www-structure.llnl.gov/Xray/101index.html

3. IUC Teaching Pamphlets by The International Union of Crystallographers. Very nice tutorials for diffractions and crystallography. http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/comm/cteach/pamphlets.html

4. X-ray Radiology by Nondestructive Testing (NDT) resource center. Provide very detailed information on properties and application of X-ray products. http://www.ndt-ed.org/AboutNDT/aboutndt.htm

5. Introduction to Philips X’Pert by Tennessee Advanced Materials Laboratory. A very useful website for the description of how to operate Philips X’Pert. http://web.utk.edu/~xling/WAXD.htm