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| The Crystal Structure of Bromobenzoic Acid© | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| George L. Hardgrove Chemistry Department St. Olaf College Northfield, MN 55057 United States mail to: hardgrov@stolaf.edu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The purpose of this computer exercise is to resolve a two-dimensional image of the structure in order to find out which isomer (ortho, meta, or para) of bromobenzoic acid is present and to speculate on the pattern of possible hydrogen bonding. The instruction document builds on the concepts developed in the Powder Diffraction Document by the same author. This document presents the phase problem on a level that typical undergraduate students can understand. The usefulness of the heavy atom for solving crystal structures is described as the student is lead to interpret an electron density map for the compound in the computational document. Refinement of the electron density map permits students to detect the intermolecular hydrogen bonding in the bromobenzoic acid crystal. Numerical exercises in the instructional document lead the student to develop deeper understanding of the concepts. Interactive computational exercises with the computational document give the students a real feel for the way a crystal structure may be determined and refined to solve a chemical structure problem or give insight into molecular behavior. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Comments to: George Hardgrove at hardgrov@stolaf.edu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ©Copyright George Hardgrove, 1996, 1997. All rights reserved. You are welcome to use this document in your own classes but commercial use is not allowed without the permission of the author. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
