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IUMSC   Indiana University Molecular Structure Center

Our Mission

The Indiana University Molecular Structure Center (IUMSC) provides state-of-the-art service and research crystallography, including routine and non-routine small-molecule single-crystal X-ray structure determination and X-ray powder diffraction analysis to Indiana University. We offer crystallography classes to students and enable researchers to carry out their own specialized diffraction experiments. We also facilitate collaborations with other allied laboratories and regularly conduct sophisticated experiments at National Laboratories. The center develops information technology tools for remote instrument access, fast data dissemination, and cyber collaboration to aid crystallographic experiments. The IUMSC is dedicated to improving scientific literacy of the general public and develops cyber teaching tools to enhance Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and inspire young scientists to pursue STEM careers. We welcome the general public to visit and tour our center.

Overview

The Indiana University Molecular Structure Center is a service and research facility in the area of crystallography, and structural and materials chemistry. It is a center of the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and located in the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The laboratory has a full complement of single crystal and powder diffraction equipment used to characterize crystalline materials using the techniques of X-ray crystallography. We welcome students and faculty to individual training, enabling them to carry out their own experiments and analysis in our center, and we invite and assist researchers in designing specialized diffraction experiments. We also carry out advanced experiments with neutron and synchrotron radiation at National Facilities.

The results of a crystallographic study may be a powder pattern of a chemical or a mixture of chemicals for identification and quantitative analysis. It may also be a set of atomic coordinates of a previously unknown material. This information is of outmost importance for understanding the properties of a compound. Three-dimensional images of the atomic arrangement in a material can be generated and geometric parameters derived. The center disseminates status and results of the crystallographic experiment via the Reciprocal Net, which allows rapid access to the data and interactive interrogation of the structure.

The center develops and implements information technology tools that allow for remote participation and observation of the crystallographic experiment in collaboration with Computer Science faculty at Indiana University. Further, we create teaching modules in the area of crystallography and structural chemistry, http://www.reciprocalnet.org/edumodules/, that are designed to enhance STEM education and general scientific literacy.

History

The Indiana University Molecular Structure Center was established as a departmental service and research facility in 1968. The Board of Trustees of Indiana University approved as an Office of Research and the University Graduate School (RUGS) Center in 1974. The IUMSC is the longest continuously operating academic research and service facility in the United States.


Indiana University
Indiana University Molecular Structure Center. Chemistry, A421, Indiana University, 800 E, Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405-7102, 812.855.6821
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