RODIN: Raw Diffraction Data for Teaching, Training, and Demonstration

A new teaching resource comprised of raw X-ray diffraction data sets from crystallography experiments has been compiled. The aim of this resource is to provide a tool with which to plug the teaching gap between crystals and chemical structures present at various levels of education, as well as providing examples for early stage researchers and institutions without the requisite instrumentation to use for training. The data sets mirror the contents of the highly successful CSD Teaching Subset and include examples that demonstrate the effects of wavelength, crystal quality, and collection temperature. As crystallography underpins our understanding of chemical structure, exposure to the technique will be beneficial to students in terms of providing understanding of where the structures in the CSD Teaching Subset originate as well as insights into many overlapping fields such as scattering theory and symmetry. The resource will be available through the CCDC Web site and will provide links to the software required for data processing and documentation describing its use. It is hoped that this resource will expand with contributions from users in terms of both data and teaching exercises.