Newcastle Chemical Crystallography Service
banner
newcrystle.bsky.social
Newcastle Chemical Crystallography Service
@newcrystle.bsky.social
Providing crystal structure data and analysis at Newcastle University.

Updates | Publications | Musings
Check out our latest collab with @indicatrix.bsky.social and Sultan Qaboos University. Three crystal structures and a lot of weak hydrogen bonds: journals.iucr.org/c/issues/202...
Weak hy­dro­gen bonding in the structures of three double-acyl­ated amino­anti­pyrines
The structures of three doubly-acyl­ated 4-amino­anti­pyrine com­pounds where the aryl substituent is varied are reported and analysed in terms of their relative conformation, inter­molecular inter­ac...
journals.iucr.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Oh dear…

You’re better than that, BBC News.

#crystallography #diffraction
November 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Newcastle Chemical Crystallography Service
Excited to have proofs in hand of our crystallography children‘s book! Illustrated by an amazing undergrad Justine Wong!

More info coming soon…
#chemsky
October 22, 2025 at 10:33 PM
You love to see it #chemsky #crystallography #dna
October 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
It's been a while but the publications are flowing again! Check our report on the structure of salcaprozoic acid in @actacrystc.iucr.org in collaboration with Oisín Kavanagh at @nclpharmacy.bsky.social: journals.iucr.org/c/issues/202...
Crystallographic and physicochemical characterization of salcaprozoic acid: a structural basis for SNAC-enabled drug delivery systems
This study presents the first com­prehensive crystallographic characterization of salcaprozoic acid (HNAC), the free acid form of salcaprozate sodium (SNAC), using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A ...
journals.iucr.org
October 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Once more with feeling: 🎵 There's Sb, As, Al, Se...🎵
We're saddened to hear that the musical satirist Tom Lehrer passed away this weekend. His original and witty songs were loved by audiences worldwide, but to chemists he'll always be remembered for this classic: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3...
Tom Lehrer - The Elements - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967
YouTube video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel
www.youtube.com
July 28, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Newcastle Chemical Crystallography Service
🎓 Congratulations to the class of 2025 from all of us at Newcastle Chemistry! 🎓
It's been a pleasure teaching you over the last few years and we're excited to see what you do next! Stay in touch and we wish you the very best! #WeAreNCL #NCLGrad
July 18, 2025 at 11:04 AM
I'm happy to have worked with Johannes Voigt to tell this story about a structure with Z' > 1 that exhibits approximate symmetry and combines features of two previously published polymorphs. Pretty much everything I'm about!

Check it out in Crystals: www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/15...
July 18, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Always great to work on these weird and wonderful (and unstable!) structures with Keith Izod and his group. Check them out here: chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 14, 2025 at 9:41 AM
I’m told there is about 15 years of work in this article from Jason Gill, which includes a structure from the Service. Check it out! @nclpharmacy.bsky.social

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Development of novel benzamide class I selective lysine deacetylase inhibitors as potent anticancer agents
Small molecule inhibitors of lysine deacetylases (KDACs), exemplified by histone deacetylases (HDACs), exhibit significant promise as cancer therapeutics. Using a modular combinatorial chemistry ap...
www.tandfonline.com
July 5, 2025 at 4:43 PM
A great article from Simon Doherty’s group on the application of quaternary ammonium cations in anion-exchange membranes including seven structure determined by the Service: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
#chemsky
Structure–Stability Correlations on Quaternary Ammonium Cations as Model Monomers for Anion-Exchange Membranes and Ionomers
Understanding the alkaline stability of quaternary ammonium (QA) cations tethered to polymer backbones in anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) is crucial to advance the long-term performance of anion-excha...
pubs.acs.org
July 3, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Love a bit of scientific history 🇱🇰 #chemsky #glassware #lifesciences
June 29, 2025 at 2:47 PM
More great work from Roly Armstrong and Erli Lu (formally of this Parish) with two structures from the Service including a crazy cubic cluster: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
C[double bond, length as m-dash]O methylenation mediated by organo-alkali metal reagents: metal identity and ligand effects - Chemical Science (RSC Publishing) DOI:10.1039/D5SC02313K
pubs.rsc.org
June 28, 2025 at 12:03 AM
This sample is giving alchemy
#chemsky
June 4, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Great to see this collaboration, including two fascinating structures from our service, in print in @chemicalscience.rsc.org. Take a look: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
CO methylenation mediated by organo-alkali metal reagents: metal identity and ligand effects
C [[double bond, length as m-dash]] O methylenation mediated by α-silyl organo-alkali metal reagents, namely Peterson methylenation, is a textbook organic reaction that has been widely employed in syn...
pubs.rsc.org
May 27, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Shut up and take my money!
Heinrich Baumhauer’s 3D periodic table from 1870 may soon come to life as a Lego playset, if a Spanish scientist's 'Periodic Tower of Elements' bid comes to fruition. #ChemSky
Campaign launched to get Lego periodic table playset out there
Spanish scientist wants people to vote for his spiral table to get Lego to bring it to life
www.chemistryworld.com
May 23, 2025 at 10:44 AM
No way! Me too!
May 7, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Newcastle Chemical Crystallography Service
Well done to 1st year PhD student Giovanna, for being awarded the IUCr Best Poster award at #BCA25 meeting at Leeds. With Prof MR Probert and Newcastle Chemistry
May 1, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Newcastle Chemical Crystallography Service
As Senior Tutors, @hopkinsonlab.bsky.social and I have been developing a new educational game, CHEMmunicate, that builds communication skills and encourages social interactions. Check it out in J Chem Ed @pubs.acs.org
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
@chemistryncl.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social
CHEMmunicate: A Chemical Structure Drawing Game for Building Scientific Communication Skills and Enhancing Social Interactions among First Year Undergraduate Students
Students’ overall experience of university life and their assessment outcomes are partly determined by their engagement with teaching activities, which is in turn influenced by their sense of social cohesion with their peers. In addition to providing pastoral support, in our role as Senior Tutors, we encourage the formation of a more cohesive learning community among chemistry students post-COVID. With the aim of building better connections both between us and the new student cohort and between the students themselves, we have introduced new Senior Tutor Check-In sessions, which are built around a new chemical drawing game: CHEMmunicate. Across the first semester, we held 8 sessions with ca. 12–16 new first year chemistry undergraduate students in which two teams competed to draw chemical structures using yes/no questions (total: 200 participants over two separate cohorts). In this paper, we outline the rules of the game and provide tips for session leaders seeking to implement it at other institutions. Moreover, through analysis of student feedback from questionnaires and a focus group, we demonstrate how CHEMmunicate and the Senior Tutor Check-In sessions can prove beneficial in building student cohesion and enhancing students’ learning of organic chemistry.
pubs.acs.org
April 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Don’t be fooled by my face, this was genuinely so much fun! #bca2025 #crystallography #scienceoutreach
Thank you to everyone who attended our outreach workshop this afternoon jointly hosted with the CCG and @ccdc.cam.ac.uk So much enthusiasm and ideas in one room! It was a lot of fun to brainstorm and share experiences 😊👩‍🏫🧠
April 17, 2025 at 2:22 PM