Eldico’s key publications
Electron crystallography and dedicated electron-diffraction instrumentation
P. Simoncic, E. Romeijn, E. Hovestreydt, G. Steinfeld, G. Santiso-Quiñones and J. Merkelbach
Invited contribution to the Acta Crystallographica E “Tools for Teaching Crystallography”. This article written by Eldico’s scientific team aims to provide an introduction into 3D electron diffraction for crystallography students and researchers not yet familiar with the technique. It highlights the advantages and challenges of 3D electron diffraction supported by several case studies of data collected on ELDICO ED-1.
Acta Cryst. (2023). E79, 410.
The polymorph landscape of dabigatran etexilate mesylate: Taking the challenge to bring a metastable polymorph to market
Sieger, U. Werthmann, S. Saouane
The article published by the consortium member Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH reports the structure of 3 polymorphs of Dabigatran etecilate mesylate, a thrombin inhibitor. The previously unknown structures were determined from electron diffraction data measured on Eldico’s ED-1. The publication demonstrates the value Eldico’s services provided to the pharmaceutical industry as polymorph characterization is of great importance for drug development.
European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2023). 186, 106447
Saddles as rotational locks within shape-assisted self-assembled nanosheets
J.F. Woods, L. Gallego, A. Maisch, et al
Researches from the University of Zurich, National Research Council of Italy and the University of Strasbourg in collaboration with Eldico’s scientific team used 3D electron diffraction to determine the structure of two-dimensional self-assembled nanosheets of carpyridine derivates. The characterization of self-assembled systems is important to understand natural molecular recognition processes such as enzyme catalysis.
Nat Communication (2023). 14, 4725
Absolute Structure Determination of Chiral Zinc Tartrate MOFs by 3D Electron Diffraction
C. Jandl, G. Steinfeld, K. Li, P.K.C. Pang, C.L. Choi, C. Wang, P. Simoncic, I.D. Williams
The collaboration between researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Eldico’s scientific team has been showcased in an invited contribution to the MDPI journal Symmetry. The structure of 3D MOF anhydrous zinc (II) tartrate has been reported for the first time using electron diffraction data collected on ELDICO ED-1. The article further highlights the potential of electron diffraction data to determine the absolute structure of enantiomers.
Symmetry (2023). 15, 983
Crystal mapping by continuous rotation electron diffraction
J. Merkelbach, D. Stam, C. Jandl, V. Kushwah, A. Paudel, P. Simoncic
Crystal mapping using the ELDICO ED-1 electron diffractometer, i.e. the mapping and screening of particles by STEM imaging with subsequential continuous rotation diffraction data collection, is a powerful tool to characterize the nature, presence and characteristics of impurities or unknown crystal forms and polymorphs in mixtures and powder samples of various materials. The method developed by Eldico is showcased in 2 examples covering the detection of impurities and the presence of crystallinity in amorphous solid dispersions.
Imaging & Microscopy (2023). 3, 31
Electron diffraction: Accelerating drug development
E. Hovestreydt
Electron Diffraction (ED) is gaining momentum in science and industry. The application of ED for performing nanocrystallography is a disruptive innovation that is opening up fascinating new perspectives particularly for organic compounds required in the fields of chemical, pharmaceutical and advanced materials research.
Drug Discovery Today, 27, Issue 2, 2022,
371-373
Structure Determination of Biogenic Crystals Directly from 3D Electron Diffraction Data
Avital Wagner, Johannes Merkelbach, Laura Samperisi, Noam Pinsk, Benson M. Kariuki, Colan E. Hughes, Kenneth D. M. Harris, Benjamin A. Palmer
Scientists from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Cardiff University and our application science team from Eldico Scientific AG have achieved a significant breakthrough in the structural determination of biogenic crystals from 3D electron diffraction (3D ED) data measured with the ELDICO ED-1. The team successfully determined the structure of individual crystals of biogenic guanine directly extracted from spider integument, scallop eyes and fish scales. The study highlights the potential of 3D ED in elucidating the structures of micrometer-to nanometer-sized biogenic molecular crystals, offering new insights into the development of organic biomineralization and the optical functions of these materials. The findings represent a crucial step forward in understanding and harnessing the potential of biogenic crystals for sustainable and bio-compatible optical applications.
Cryst. Growth Des. 2024, 24, 3, 899–905
In the Footsteps of Pasteur: Finding Conglomerates by Using State-of-the-Art Electron Diffraction
Ivo B. Rietveld, Felix Painsecq, Christian Jandl, Danny Stam, Gerard Coquerel
Chiral discrimination in the solid state is crucial for chiral resolution and deracemization, which in turn determines the efficacy of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals. Several methods to identify conglomerates exist; however, the newest developments in electron diffraction are now capable of rapidly providing unambiguous information about the absolute structure, irrespective of whether these crystals consist of chiral or achiral molecules. It could rapidly evolve into an important tool to identify conglomerates for chiral resolution.
Crystal Growth & Design 2024 24 (14), 5893-5897
Crystal structure of febuxostat marketed polymorph determined by electron diffraction and reinforced by X-ray crystallography
Doriana T. Ungur, Arianna Lanza, Danny Stam, Carmen Guguta, Coca Iordache, Victor Fruth, Gustavo Santiso-Quinones, Mihaela M. Pop
This article demonstrates the ability of electron diffraction (3D ED, or simply ED) for solving complex structures of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and its relevance in the drug development process. The study focuses on febuxostat (FEB), a selective inhibitor used for treating gout. FEB exhibits multiple solid forms, with the crystal structure of the marketed polymorph (form A) being unknown despite its commercial availability. In this work, the crystal structure of form A was successfully determined using both ED and single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques (SC-XRD). Notably, the crystal growth attempts delivered very small crystals, suitable for ED only, while larger single-crystals for SC-XRD were unintentionally obtained in an experiment aiming for the co-crystallization of FEB with benzoic acid. The results show that ED is a valuable and reliable tool for crystal structure determinations, with comparable accuracy to X-ray crystallography. This study highlights the possibility of incorporating ED in the pharmaceutical research and development process, offering a reliable and efficient approach for crystal structure analysis. It emphasizes the significance of combining crystal structure knowledge with theoretical methods in understanding complex polymorphic systems. Furthermore, it addresses the ED potential in overcoming the challenges in characterizing solid forms across the drug development process.
CrystEngComm, 2024, Advance Article
Polymorphism of an Nα-Aroyl-N-Aryl-Phenylalanine Amide: An X-ray and Electron Diffraction Study
Lang M, Goddard R, Patzer M, Ganapathy US, Dick T, Richter A, Seidel RW.
In this paper a nice case study is described how electron diffraction can be used to determine the crystal structure of a new polymorph of an antimycobacterial agent.
Molbank 2024, 2024, M1851.
Key Publications
Electron diffraction (ED) is one of the most rapidly developing and exciting areas of crystallography. In the last two years, every relevant congress dealing with crystallography, chemistry, materials science, geology or biomolecules has taken up the topic of ED. The publications are increasing rapidly. There is no doubt that ED is an important driving force for academic and industrial research and product development. In the following, we present a selection of the most relevant publications.
The big picture
Papers from ELDICO SCIENTIFIC
Blogs from the scientific community
Major achievements in the past years
Various methods used in Electron Diffraction
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