Taking Crystal Sponges into the Nanoscale Using 3D Electron Diffraction

The crystal sponge method allows determination of the crystal structures of non-crystalline molecules, by adsorbing them in a porous host crystal and concurrently determining the structures of both the host - the crystal sponge - and the desired analyte. This project will use electron diffraction, which allows single nanocrystal (~100 nm) structure determination to overhaul the crystal sponge method. Electron diffraction will facilitate the targeted discovery of new sponges, expand the scope of compatible analytes, optimise and simplify sample handling and analyte loading, improve data quality and reproducibility, examine the selectivity of sponge-analyte binding, and enable high throughput analytical techniques.