Crystallography in Turkey

In the mid 1960’s Ali Fuat Cesur of Ankara U. started an X-ray crystallography laboratory, which remains active today. In 1970 a new laboratory for structural research was established at Hacettepe U. in Ankara, Turkey, under the leadership of Dincer Ulku. Today this laboratory publishes 30-40 structures every year in internationally refereed journals and it is the leading centre of X-ray crystallography in the country. Since 1999 a rotating anode X-ray generator has been in operation in the same department. In 1998 Kırıkkale U. established an X-ray crystallography laboratory, equipped with a full circle fully automated unit and a TEM. Several X-ray powder diffraction units exist scattered across the country.

Targets for crystal structure analysis in Turkey include inclusion compounds such as Hoffmann clathrates, polynuclear coordination complexes of transition metals with unusual magnetic properties, biologically active molecules, intermetallic compounds, molecular modeling and synthetic metallic materials.

The recently formed Turkish Crystallographic Assn presently has 60 registered members, one fourth of whom are senior scientists. The European Crystallographic Assn welcomed the Turkish Crystallographic Assn at its General Assembly in Cracow in August 2001 as a new member. Work is in progress to apply for a membership in the IUCr.

For more information contact dulku@hacettepe.edu.tr or visit www.kristalografi.org

Dincer Ulku