Hello Jiyuan, One small point to note- as Artem says, small molecule crystals are often generated out of solvents and these same solvents often melt the standard protein crystallisation plates, so be careful what you put into a plastic plate.
As Artem mentioned, synchrotrons are generally overkill for small molecule structures (although there are exceptions). In this case, I would like to plug for the Australian Synchrotron which has a dedicated small molecule crystallographer and a beamline set up for small molecule crystallography (we do some protein crystallography there too!). So there is help available for those that do want to use synchrotrons for small molecule structures. cheers, tom Tom Peat Proteins Group Biomedical Program, CSIRO 343 Royal Parade Parkville, VIC, 3052 +613 9662 7304 +614 57 539 419 tom.p...@csiro.au ________________________________ From: CCP4 bulletin board <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> on behalf of Artem Evdokimov <artem.evdoki...@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 2, 2020 8:07 AM To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK <CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK> Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Question about small molecule crystallography Hi A small organic molecule is typically crystallized from organic solvents (or water, if soluble) by means of at least three main techniques: 1. slow evaporation of solvent leading to supersaturation and eventual crystallization 2. supersaturation at higher temperature followed by gradual drop in temperature causing crystallization 3. counter-diffusion of an incompatible solvent to drop solubility of the substance and cause crystallization Many times, just leaving an NMR tube with a tiny hole in the plastic cap for a week or so will cause crystals to form. Schnobviously, some substances will not crystallize easily - some form oils, amorphous precipitates, etc. and others will form liquid hydrated forms or just plain decompose. If you have any specific questions please don't hesitate to contact me in person. I've spent half of my PhD crystallizing weird small molecules for fun and profit. As to how to solve structures of small molecules - any synchrotron is a massive overkill. Just get in touch with a University X-ray lab, many of which still have functional small molecule instruments. SHELX is the software of choice - of course! (I still have the blue/white polka dot SHELX cup, it's one of my more treasured curios). Artem - Cosmic Cats approve of this message On Mon, Jun 1, 2020 at 6:01 PM Jiyuan Ke <jiyuan...@h3biomedicine.com<mailto:jiyuan...@h3biomedicine.com>> wrote: Hi Everyone, I want to crystallize a small organic molecule. I have very limited experience in small molecule crystallography. I found that the Crystal Screen HT from the Hampton research is good for both small molecule and macromolecule crystallization. Plan to set up a sitting drop screen just like setting up protein crystallization. I don’t know if this is the proper way to do it. Is the MRC sitting drop 2-well plate (HR3-083) used for protein crystallization good for small molecule crystallization? Are there any special plates used for small molecule crystallization? Is room temperature ok or not? For data collection, can I use the beamline for protein crystals to collect data on small molecule crystals? Larger oscillation angle, shorter exposure, reduced beam intensity? For structure determination, is SHELXL the preferred software for solving small molecule structures? If anyone has experience in small molecule crystallography, please help. Thanks! Best Regards, -- Jiyuan Ke, Ph.D. Research Investigator H3 Biomedicine Inc. 300 Technology Square, Floor 5 Cambridge, MA 02139 Phone: 617-252-3923 Email: jiyuan...@h3biomedicine.com<mailto:jiyuan...@h3biomedicine.com> Website: www.h3biomedicine.com<http://www.h3biomedicine.com/> [https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B1VBLPNVMUntenZVa3RFS3JOcVU&revid=0B1VBLPNVMUntbExRa0hyYWpCZGVNeFhZc0JwVit3bzU5c1Z3PQ] [This e-mail message may contain privileged, confidential and/or proprietary information of H3 Biomedicine. If you believe that it has been sent to you in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete the message including any attachments, without copying, using, or distributing any of the information contained therein. This e-mail message should not be interpreted to include a digital or electronic signature that can be used to authenticate an agreement, contract or other legal document, nor to reflect an intention to be bound to any legally-binding agreement or contract.] ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
