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Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Structural Studies of Macromolecules in Solution using Small Angle X-Ray Scattering
Published on: November 5, 2018
Diffuse scattering and partial disorder in complex structures
1Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
Abstract:
The study of single-crystal diffuse scattering (SCDS) goes back almost to the beginnings of X-ray crystallography. Because SCDS arises from two-body correlations, it contains information about local (short-range) ordering in the sample, information which is often crucial in the attempt to relate structure to function. This review discusses the state of the field, including detectors and data collection and the modelling of SCDS using Monte Carlo and ab initio techniques. High-quality, three-dimensional volumes of SCDS data can now be collected at synchrotron light sources, allowing ever more detailed and quantitative analyses to be undertaken, and opening the way to approaches such as three-dimensional pair distribution function studies (3D-PDF) and automated refinement of a disorder model, powerful techniques that require large volumes of low-noise data.
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