Free book chapter to celebrate 100 years of X-ray crystallography

Help celebrate the United Nations’ International Year of Crystallography by downloading a free book chapter (pdf) by Stefan H.J. Idziak of the University of Waterloo on “Powder X-ray diffraction of triglycerides in the study of polymorphism.” The chapter appears in AOCS Press’ Structure-Function Analysis of Edible Fats, which was edited by Alejandro G. Marangoni of the University of Guelph.

“X-ray crystallography has had a tremendous impact on the fats and oils industry,” notes Marangoni. “It allowed for the unambiguous assignment of specific crystal structures to certain functionalities such as the desirable form V of chocolate or beta prime in margarine and shortening. This has directed both fundamental research as well as application development in the fats and oils industry for the past 75 years. Many challenges still remain in this area, such as indexing crystallographic planes, but X-ray crystallography still remains one of the most important and useful tools in the study of fat structure and functionality.” 

• Download “Powder X-ray diffraction of triglycerides in the study of polymorphism.” (.pdf)