Crystallography in Serbia

This Special Report was published in the IUCr Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 3 (2011).

The former Yugoslav Centre for Crystallography in the Republic of Serbia has been reorganized by the Serbian Crystallographic Society. The SCS was founded in Belgrade on May 7, 1992 at the Faculty of Mining and Geology of the Serbian Academy of Science and Art. Bela Ribar was elected president, I. Krstanovič vice-president, and L. Karanovič secretary, and other members of first SCS committee were: B. Prelesnik, S. Stankovič, S. Janjič and D. Stojanovič.

Participants of the SCS Conference, Novi Sad, 2006.

The First Conference of the SCS was held in Belgrade in 1992. In 1993, at the 16th General Assembly of the IUCr in Beijing, China, SCS was accepted as a member of the Union. When the European Crystallographic Association was founded, Serbia became a member. The current president of SCS is A. Kremenovič ([email protected]). The Society organizes annual Conferences each June and invites crystallographers from abroad as plenary lecturers. SCS receives financial aid for membership payments and conference organization from the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. The complete book of abstracts from the last conference can be found at: www.df.uns.ac.rs/skd.

Crystallography research at the University of Belgrade, Serbia.

Several crystallographic research groups are active within Serbian Universities and research institutes. The group that initiated crystallographic research in Serbia became the Dept. for Crystallography at the Faculty for Mining and Geology of Belgrade U., now headed by L. Karanovič ([email protected]). Since establishing the Chair for crystallography in 1991, the team has used X-ray, optical and geometrical crystallography to study mineralogy, chemistry, physics and material science of natural and synthetic materials. Crystallography is taught at this Faculty at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels.

A group lead by D. Poleti ([email protected]) at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy studies the structure and functional chemistry of transition and post-transition elements. The laboratory for X-ray diffraction of the Dept. of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, U. of Novi Sad was founded in 1973 by the late B. Ribar. Ribar formed a group of physicists involved in crystallography that is now led by S. Rakič ([email protected]), who together with senior scientists V. Divjakovič ([email protected]) and A. Kapor ([email protected]) conducts powder, liquid crystal and single crystal analysis. Current instrumentation includes an Oxford Diffraction Xcalibur S, a Cryojet HT cooling system high-temperature equipment (Anton Paar HTK2), and an Edwards vacuum pump. Services provided include application of Rietveld and SHELX refinement programs. Research targets include ceramics, spinel type nanocomposites for application in new technologies, studies of crystallite size, microstrain, and phase transitions, and analysis of compounds potentially relevant for pharmacology.

Research groups at Novi Sad U. study the coordination of synthetic transition and metal complexes, and biologically active organic compounds. Courses on Crystallography are offered at the Bachelor and Master degree levels in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry.

In the Dept. of Chemistry of the U. of Kragujevac, crystal structures of synthetic compounds are determined in the group headed by S. Trifunovič ([email protected]). In the Dept. of Chemistry, U. of Belgrade, research groups led by S. Zarič ([email protected]) study inorganic complexes, noncovalent interactions, theoretical energy of crystal formation and analysis of data derived from the Cambridge Structural Database.

Crystallography research at the Research Institute 'Vinča', Serbia.

Several institutes conduct crystallographic research on materials. The first group to use automatic single crystal diffractometry was started by R. Herak and B. Prelesnik in the Laboratory for Solid State Physics at the Inst. for Nuclear Science 'Vinča' in the 1950's. They published work in single-crystal and powder diffraction and secured an Enraf-Nonius CAD4 diffractometer. Current research by the group in the department headed by G. Bogdanovič ([email protected]) is focused on transition metal complexes, weak intermolecular interactions, hydrogen bonding, supramolecular structures and CSD database and experimental charge density studies. In the Condensed Matter Laboratory, research on synthesis and structural and magnetic characterization of nanosized and polycrystalline magnetic materials (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3, ε-Fe2O3) is led by V. Spasojevič ([email protected]) and diffraction measurement on a Bruker AXS D8 diffractometer are coordinated by M. Mitrič ([email protected]). The founder of this group was late D. Rodič. The SCS presents an annual award, named after Rodič, to a promising young crystallographer. Another crystallographic research group led by S. Boškovič ([email protected]) in the Ceramic Department at 'Vinča' studies nanostructured carbon materials, ceramics and solid solutions for use in electronics, conducts synthesis, characterization, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and determines crystallite size and microstrain using Rietveld refinement and other techniques.

Agneš Kapor ([email protected])