The article of Sommer [Acta Cryst. (2024), C80, 337–342] provides a concise and effective introduction to the subject of growing crystals suitable for structure determination.

The X-ray structural characterization of the iron(III) hexa­fluoro­acetyl­acetonate high-tem­per­a­ture polymorph reveals its structure as trigonal, which is different from the previously reported monoclinic low-tem­per­a­ture polymorph. The transformation between the two polymorphs was studied upon crystallization from the gas phase, melt, and from solution at different tem­per­a­tures.

An overview of techniques for recombinant incorporation of selenium and subsequent purification and crystallization of the resulting labelled protein.

A number of machine-learning-based algorithms are presented for the reconstruction of gaps in experimental X-ray scattering images through inpainting approaches.

A catalog of techniques, tips, tricks, and encouragement for growing crystals suitable for X-ray crystallography.

Dudek and coworkers [Acta Cryst. (2020), B76, 322–335] report an integrated X-ray powder diffraction, NMR crystallography and crystal structure prediction study to determine crystal structures that could not have been determined using a single method. This is an important example that nicely illustrates the process of combining techniques and demonstrates the importance of careful validation.

In small-angle scattering, the orientation of long thin particles often results in anisotropic two-dimensional scattering patterns, for which the anisotropy can be quantified through simple anisotropy factors. This work provides practitioners with information on the various methods for determining the anisotropy, including their limitations and recommended applications.

Particle shape functions are necessary to model powder scattering data that are in the form of intensity profiles and pair distribution functions. Here, an efficient method is presented to compute particle shape functions by orientational averaging of common volume functions. Contributions from particle size and size dispersity are accounted for via scaling and convolution.

This feature article reviews the control and understanding of nanoparticle shape from their crystallography and growth. Particular emphasis is placed on systems relevant for plasmonics and catalysis.

Dislocation densities of Zircaloy-2 tensile samples are measured using two diffraction-based techniques. The relative sensitivities of the techniques to dislocations produced during cold work are compared.