Partnership with the X-ray imaging laboratory, Institute of Crystallography, Bari, Italy

The Institute of Crystallography (IC) of the Italian National Center of Research (Centro Nazionale Ricerche, CNR) carries out fundamental and applied research activities aiming to develop novel crystallographic methodologies and automatic computing strategies applicable to powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction as well as chemistry and structural biology. The excellence of CNR-IC crystallographic software developed and distributed to both the academic and industrial communities is worldwide recognized. Furthermore, the CNR-IC deals with applied diffraction physics; structural chemistry-based interdisciplinary studies, such as bio-pharmacology oriented molecular modeling; the development of novel biological and pharmacological compounds (antimicrobials, antitumor drugs etc); the characterization of materials of technological interest such as nanocrystals; instrumentation development; biosensor fabrication, based on photosynthetic protein properties, suitable for numerous environment, food and medical applications.

Through Excelsus Structural Solutions, CNR-IC offers  effordable and fast access to its X-Ray Imaging Laboratory (XMI-Lab) for the characterization of drug substances and products at the nano-scale (e.g. nanosuspension formulations, inhaled corticosteroids) with state-of-the-art know-how and technologies specifically developed at the XMI-Lab to investigate the nanoscale world.

The chemico-physical properties of nano-scale materials, in fact, depend not only on their structural properties (i.e. type, position and symmetry of the atoms in the unit cell, unit cells size and space group) but also on their morphological properties (i.e. nanoparticle shape, size and their spatial organization). Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) is the X-Ray diffraction technique that records the X-Ray scattering by materials at very small scattering angles (below 3 degree in 2θ). SAXS measurements provide information on the morphological properties of the materials with a particle size distribution between 3 and 120 nm. Wide Angle X-Ray Scattering (WAXS) gives information on the atomic and molecular ordering of materials. The only way to correlate structure and morphology and, hence, fully characterize nanomaterials is to simultaneously perform SAXS and WAXS analyses at the same time and on the same sample. Simultaneous SAXS-WAXS on nanomaterials also allows one to evaluate particle and domain size and correctly relate to them the observed chemical and physical properties of materials.The CNR-IC laboratory allows the study of nanoparticles and nanocrystals that are buried into a matrix, with different electron density, or lay on top and underneath a surfaceby means of Grazing Incidence SAXS and WAXS (GI-SAXS-WAXS).

More information on the X-ray imaging laboratory in: D. Altamura et al., J. Appl. Cryst. (2012) 45, 869-873.