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Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Atomic Scale Structural Studies of Macromolecular Assemblies by Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: September 17, 2017
The use of restraints in Rietveld refinement of molecular compounds; a case study using the crystal structure
Harriott Nowell1, J Paul Attfield, Jason C Cole
1Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
Abstract:
The previously unknown crystal structure of the biogenic compound tryptamine, in the form of a free base (C(10)H(12)N(2)), has been solved from X-ray powder diffraction data using simulated annealing followed by restrained Rietveld refinement [space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), a = 12.28593 (6), b = 8.53351 (4), c = 8.49385 (4) A, Z = 4, final reduced-chi(2) = 5.255]. A restrained Rietveld refinement was carried out in which the global weight factor, f, of the stereochemical restraints was gradually lowered. The effect of the relaxation of restraints on the crystal structure and on chi(2) was studied and a criterion for the final choice of f is reported. The crystal structure reported here shows efficient packing involving weak intermolecular hydrogen bonding and a herringbone-type packing pattern.
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