Better Crystals for Diffraction Studies

Specially engineered Asynt DrySyn™ heating blocks are being used by Glasgow University Chemistry Department’s Research Group in Structural Chemistry to prepare high quality crystals for study by X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques. This group, part of the WestCHEM Research School led by Professor Chick Wilson, carries out structural chemistry research into the structure and properties of a wide range of molecular materials, with particular focus on hydrogen bonding.

Good quality crystals of the type required for many of the studies carried out in the Wilson Group have to be grown slowly under carefully controlled conditions, requiring close temperature control over periods sometimes extending to several weeks. This can be difficult using conventional water baths, not least because of evaporation. Because of the time factor, it is also more efficient to grow many crystals simultaneously, in parallel.

Asynt’s DrySyn heating blocks have been popular in chemistry laboratories worldwide as a safer, more convenient alternative to oil and water baths ever since their introduction in 2004. In the Glasgow laboratory

several units, some custom-made for the research group’s applications to hold up to 24 vessels each, are used in parallel at different temperatures. DrySyn systems are available for single or multiple reaction vessels with volumes from 1ml to 5000ml. They all combine a small footprint with excellent reaction visibility. All models are fully compatible with magnetic stirring, or the novel Vortex Overhead Stirrer System can

provide powerful directly driven stirring for up to three flasks, improving performance with viscous mixtures and largely eliminating the grinding effects that can occur with magnetic stirrers on solids, especially crystals.