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IUCr 1996 Triennial Report - Commission on Small Molecules
Details of Commission activities are given in the annual reports. Here
the background and an overview are given in more general terms. It is no
secret that the centre of gravity of crystallographic structure determination
has shifted from small molecules to macromolecules of biological interest.
And yet small-molecule crystallography still has an essential role to play
in the continued development of our subject. Crystals with cell dimensions
in the Å range are much easier to handle than those in the hundreds
of Å range; the structures can be analysed in much greater depth,
in much more detail and with much greater precision. There is greater hope
of relating physical properties and structure and the information gathered
may even, one day, enable us to predict crystal structures. Each of us
will be able to add more specific contentions to this list. Thus, the Commission
has endeavoured to encourage activities at the cutting edge of current
capabilities, to broaden contacts with other methodologies, and to bring
these developments through refereed publications to the notice of a much
wider audience than can hope to attend particular meetings. This has been
done on a broad (but not broad enough) geographical basis, with meetings
in China, North America, eastern and western Europe and South Africa. Extension
to other Asian countries and South America still remains to be accomplished.
The envisaged change in name to Commission on Structural Chemistry will
hopefully not be only semantic; organic crystal chemistry has been encouraged
and inorganic neglected and this imbalance needs to be corrected.
25 April 1996 F. H. HERBSTEIN , Chairman
J. FLIPPEN-ANDERSON, Secretary
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IUCr Triennial Report: Commission on Structural Chemistry
Updated 16th October 1997
Copyright © 1997 International Union of Crystallography
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