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Glass transition in thaumatin crystals revealed through temperature-dependent radiation-sensitivity measurements

Acta Cryst. (2010). D66, 1092-1100 (doi.org/10.1107/S0907444910035523)

[Radiation sensitivity]

The temperature-dependence of radiation damage to thaumatin crystals is reported, revealing two regimes of thermally activated behavior. At temperatures above ∼200 K the activation energy indicates that radiation damage is dominated by diffusive motions, but below ∼200 K the activation energy is similar to those reported for radiation damage to a variety of solvent-free small-molecule organic crystals. These results also suggest that data collection at T ≈ 220 K may provide a viable alternative for structure determination when cooling-induced disorder at 100 K is excessive.

M. Warkentin and R. E. Thorne
7 January 2011