ED-CRO
Electron Diffraction CRO
Your Electron Diffraction Contract Research Organization. Send the sample, get the structure – MicroED / 3D electron diffraction structure determination as a service, with no instrument and no method build-out on your side.
What we offer
Electron diffraction as a service
Beyond supplying the ED-1 instrument, ELDICO runs electron diffraction as a service – you send a sample, our specialists measure it and return a crystal structure. Open to every sector, from a single sample to an ongoing programme.
Crystallization
Small molecules and APIs, specific polymorphs, hydrates and solvates, co-crystals and salts – worked up from very small amounts of sample (from under 5 mg, down to less than 100 µg).
Structure elucidation
Crystal structures by electron diffraction (MicroED), complemented where useful by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and synchrotron / X-ray powder diffraction.
Customized analysis
Absolute-configuration confirmation, impurity identification, detection of micro-crystallinity in amorphous material, and co-crystal confirmation – scoped to your question.
Applied across pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, battery & energy materials, biomaterials and materials science.
How it works
1 · Feasibility
We assess whether your sample fits electron diffraction and what it will take.
2 · Measurement
Sample preparation and electron-diffraction data collection.
3 · Structure
Structure solution and refinement by our crystallographers.
4 · Report
A delivered crystal structure and analysis you can act on.
From sample to structure
You send material. We handle the rest.
Sample preparation, grid loading, data collection and structure solution all happen in our lab, run by crystallographers. You send material – you receive a solved structure and a report you can act on.
Three ways to engage
Start where you are.
Low friction
Feasibility study
Not sure electron diffraction fits your sample? Send the details and we'll tell you – no cost, no commitment.
Discuss feasibility studyStandard
Request a measurement
Ready to run it. We prepare, collect and solve the structure and return a report.
Request a measurementDeeper
Service quote
Multiple samples or an ongoing programme. A service quote scopes the work – service only, not instrument purchase.
Contact salesA service quote covers feasibility, measurement and reporting for your samples – not instrument purchase. Instrument enquiries are handled on the ED-1 page.
Sample types
What we can take
Powders, precipitates, precious batches and air- and moisture-sensitive organics – down to milligram-scale samples.
Turnaround
Weeks, not years
The slow step in crystallography is growing a crystal – often weeks, sometimes never. Electron diffraction removes it: a complete dataset is collected in minutes, so a project runs a few weeks from sample receipt to report, and faster still when the sample and the question are clear.
~1,000×
faster to a dataset
About 30 days to grow an X-ray crystal of febuxostat – the electron-diffraction dataset took minutes. CrystEngComm 2024
4 years → 4 weeks
to a structure that had resisted X-ray
Crystallisation and structure elucidation of an API in four weeks, after four years of unsuccessful attempts elsewhere. Case study
< 60 min
from commercial powder to structure
Sample preparation, data collection and structure solution in under an hour, straight from the powder. Application note AN12
Why ED-CRO
What the service delivers.
Each icon opens the case study behind the claim.
Case studies
Structures that mattered.
Peer-reviewed, DOI-backed results from electron-diffraction work – the kind of solid-form questions the service answers.
Revisiting the ritonavir polymorph landscape
Electron diffraction with crystal-structure prediction resolved a previously elusive form of ritonavir – the API behind the field's most famous polymorph crisis.
Communications Chemistry (2025) →
Febuxostat: the marketed polymorph
The structure of the marketed febuxostat polymorph, determined by electron diffraction and reinforced by X-ray crystallography.
CrystEngComm (2024) →
Absolute configuration of chiral MOFs
3D electron diffraction determined the absolute structure of chiral zinc-tartrate MOFs – chirality assigned directly from nanocrystals.
Symmetry (2023) →
In the footsteps of Pasteur: finding conglomerates
Electron diffraction identified conglomerate formation – a route to separating enantiomers by crystallisation, resolved at the single-crystallite level.
Crystal Growth & Design (2024) →Discuss a feasibility study.
Tell us about your sample and question. We'll tell you whether electron diffraction can resolve it – at no cost. It's the easiest way to start.
