Bruker AXS had invited researchers and educators to enter the SMART X2S Loaner Contest with a short description on how having the power of the SMART X2S in their own laboratory would benefit their research or teaching.

Bruker would like to thank all the applicants for over 40 exciting entries. The proposals were uniformly excellent and it was an extremely difficult task for our review panel to select a single winner. The panel’s choice and lucky winner of a free six months loaner is Prof. Roger D. Sommer at the Department of Chemistry at DePaul University.

Prof. Sommer is an assistant professor for inorganic chemistry with research interests in the chemistry of phosphorus-nitrogen rings and cages as well as molecular materials based on coordination polymers with hydrogen bonding groups.

DePaul University plans to put the instrument to use on a diverse set of problems including medicinal chemistry, clay-catalyzed organic synthesis, organometallic catalysis and inorganic materials chemistry. Prof Sommer and his colleagues isolate many crystalline samples that are insoluble and air sensitive, defying recrystallization or transport to off-site facilities. With a modern diffractometer on hand, the department will accelerate scholarship programs that have been gaining momentum for several years.

Dr. Sommer stated: "We are very excited about the award of the SMART X2S loaner. The instrument will not only benefit our research but we will also showcase the X2S during a course where students will learn the basics of crystallography. We are looking forward to introduce a new generation of science students to the state-of-the-art instrumentation in X-ray diffraction."