Cryo-EM method offers organic analysis certainty

Cryo-electron microscopy (EM) can reveal small organic molecule structures with an unprecedented combination of speed and certainty, US scientists have shown. The team, based at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, obtained molecular structures of 12 different compounds, each taking minutes. All were powders or amorphous solids unsuitable for existing x-ray crystallography techniques. The researchers also determined structures from a four-powder mixture and crushed ibuprofen tablets.