automatic solution of crystal structures : SIR92 & SIRPOW92



 Hi,
 To all the crystallographers and others, I am a very satisfied
 user of two programs (SIR92 and SIRPOW92)for automatic solution
 of crystal structures by direct methods, with a very nice graphic
 interface.
 The program for single crystal data produces (often with all the
 atoms assigned and R<10%) input for two commonly used programs
 for structure refinement SHELX or CRYSTALS
 For more information see below.
                             Davide Proserpio
 To obtain a copy please contact Dr Cascarano providing your ftp
 address.
 Dr. Gianluca Cascarano
  Istituto  di  Ricerca per lo Sviluppo di Metodologie
  Cristallografiche CNR, c/o Dipartimento Geomineralogico,
  Campus Universitario,  70124  Bari, Italy
  phone +39-80-242624, FAX +39-80-242591
  e-mail  cryst -AatT- arba.ba.cnr.it
 *****************************************************************
 SIR92 - A PROGRAM FOR AUTOMATIC SOLUTION OF CRYSTAL STRUCTURES BY
 DIRECT METHODS.
 A. ALTOMARE, G. CASCARANO, C.  GIACOVAZZO,  A. GUAGLIARDI
  Istituto  di  Ricerca   per   lo   Sviluppo    di    Metodologie
  Cristallografiche CNR, c/o Dipartimento Geomineralogico,  Campus
  Universitario,  70124  Bari,  Italy,
 M.C.  BURLA,  G.  POLIDORI
  Dipartimento  di   Scienze  della  Terra,   Universita',   06100
  Perugia, Italy,
 M.  CAMALLI
  Ist.  di  Strutturistica  Chimica  "G.  Giacomello",  CNR,   Via
  Salaria  Km   29,200,   00016    Monterotondo  stazione  (Roma),
  Italy.
 THE CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC PROBLEM: Our recent developments  in  direct
 methods theory and in crystal structure refinement  persuaded  us
 to develop  a  fully  automated  structure-determination  program
 which is able to solve the phase problem  and  to  refine  atomic
 parameters in a single computer run.
 METHOD OF SOLUTION: The  method  for   the   automatic  structure
 determination is based on the representation theory  (Giacovazzo,
 1977,  1980).  1-phase  structure   seminvariants   and   3-phase
 structure   invariants   are   estimated   via    their    second
 representation, 2-phase seminvariants and 4-phase invariants  via
 their first representation. SIR92 is the heir  of  SIR88  (Burla,
 Camalli, Cascarano, Giacovazzo, Polidori, Spagna & Viterbo, 1989)
 of which it retains most of  the  features  (f.e.,  treatment  of
 pseudotranslational symmetry, use of prior  information,  tangent
 weighting schemes, etc.). In SIR88 1-,2-phase  seminvariants  and
 positive estimated 3-phase invariants could be actively  used  in
 the phasing  process.  Negative  estimated  triplet  and  quartet
 invariants were used as a FOM together with psi-zero triplets. In
 SIR92 negative  estimated  triplet  and  quartet  invariants  and
 psi-zero triplets are actively used in the phasing process, which
 proved to be much more robust and efficient.  The  various  trial
 solutions can be obtained either  by  magic  integer  permutation
 (Main, 1978) or by random phases (Baggio,  Woolfson,  Declercq  &
 Germain, 1978). The best trial  solution,  selected  by  powerful
 FOM's, is automatically  processed  through  a  cyclic  procedure
 combining structure factor calculation - least squares -  2Fo-Fc
 Fourier synthesis. The final outcome is a set of  refined  atomic
 parameters  (x,y,z  and  isotropic  B  values)  associated   with
 suitable atomic species. The residual R value is  calculated  for
 user usefulness (final values usually between 0.08 and 0.15). The
 program runs in default when supplied with a  minimum  amount  of
 information (space  group  symbol,  cell  parameters,  unit  cell
 chemical content and  reflections)  but  documentation  has  been
 produced to allow the user to change default values. If a graphic
 device is available the user can follow  structure  solution  and
 refinement on the  screen.  In  the  final  stage  a  menu-driven
 interface is available in order to study molecular  geometry  and
 restart refinement.
 SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT: The program has been  written  in  standard
 Fortran77. A module written in C language is supplied in order to
 interface the program with X-window or DEC-Window  terminals  for
 graphics. Therefore, besides the C compiler,  an Xlib library  is
 also needed. Two ASCII files are associated to the  program:  the
 first contains coefficients for calculating  scattering  factors,
 the second, necessary for graphics, contains on-line help.
 HARDWARE  ENVIRONMENT:  The  program  runs  on   UNIX   and   DEC
 workstations, on mainframe and on personal  computers  (for  this
 last one 4 Mbytes of RAM and a VGA monitor are needed).
 PROGRAM SPECIFICATION: The source code of the program consists of
 41.000 FORTRAN lines and of 2000 C lines (including comments).
 DOCUMENTATION: Users instructions and program description  (about
 1500 lines) are supplied as an ASCII text file.
 AVAILABILITY: The program is available free of  charge  from  the
 teams in Bari and in Perugia.  A  licence  agreement  has  to  be
 signed.
                             REFERENCES
 Burla,  M.C.,  Camalli,  M.,  Cascarano,  G.,   Giacovazzo,   C.,
    Polidori, G., Spagna, R. & Viterbo, D. (1989). J. Appl. Cryst.
    22,389-393.
 Baggio, R., Woolfson, M.M., Declercq, J.P. & Germain, G.  (1978).
    Acta Cryst. A34,883-892.
 Giacovazzo, C. (1977). Acta Cryst. A33,933-944.
 Giacovazzo, C. (1980). Acta Cryst. A36,362-372.
 Main, P. (1978). Acta Cryst. A34,31-38.
 *****************************************************************
 SIRPOW.92  -  A  PROGRAM  FOR  AUTOMATIC  SOLUTION   OF   CRYSTAL
 STRUCTURES BY DIRECT METHODS OPTIMIZED FOR  POWDER  DATA.
 A. ALTOMARE, G. CASCARANO, C.  GIACOVAZZO,  A. GUAGLIARDI
  Istituto  di  Ricerca   per   lo   Sviluppo    di    Metodologie
  Cristallografiche CNR, c/o Dipartimento Geomineralogico,  Campus
  Universitario,  70124  Bari,  Italy,
 M.C.  BURLA,  G.  POLIDORI
  Dipartimento  di   Scienze  della  Terra,   Universita',   06100
  Perugia, Italy,
 M.  CAMALLI
  Ist.  di  Strutturistica  Chimica  "G.  Giacomello",  CNR,   Via
  Salaria  Km   29,200,   00016    Monterotondo  stazione  (Roma),
  Italy.
 THE CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC PROBLEM:  Solving  crystal  structures  from
 powder data is not a routinary job: peak  overlapping,  preferred
 orientation  and  difficulties  in  background  estimation   make
 uncertain the evaluation of the diffraction intensities  for  the
 various  reflections.  Consequently  both  Patterson  and  direct
 methods  lose  efficiency   and   structure   solution   is   not
 straightforward. The first aim of this  program  is  to  optimize
 direct methods for powder data.
 METHOD OF SOLUTION: The standard input of SIRPOW.92  consists  of
 lattice constants, space group,  chemical  content  of  the  unit
 cell, and a file of  reflections  as  provided  by  current  peak
 decomposition programs. Neutron data as well as X-ray data can be
 managed. The overlapping conditions, chosen  by  the  program  or
 fixed by the user, are stored for subsequent  use.  For  example,
 /E/'s of some "important" overlapping reflections can be suitably
 varied in order to generate different  phasing  pathways.  As  in
 SIR92  (Altomare,  Cascarano,  Giacovazzo,   Guagliardi,   Burla,
 Polidori  &  Camalli,  1994)  1-phase   and   2-phase   structure
 seminvariants  and  3-  and  4-phase  structure  invariants   are
 estimated via proper representations  (Giacovazzo,  1977,  1980).
 Trial solutions are obtained by the magic integer approach (Main,
 1978) or by random phases (Baggio, Woolfson, Declercq &  Germain,
 1978).  The  best  solution,  selected  by   proper   FOM's,   is
 automatically processed through a  cyclic  procedure  integrating
 structure factor calculation - least squares -   2Fo-Fc   Fourier
 synthesis. Due to reflection  overlap  the  observations  in  the
 least squares routine are the  total  intensities  of  groups  of
 reflections, while intensities of single  reflections  constitute
 single observations only when they do not overlap with any other.
 The final outcome is a set of refined atomic  parameters  (x,y,z)
 associated with atomic species. When neutron data  are  processed
 parameters of atomic species with negative scattering length  can
 also be determined. If a graphic device is available the user can
 follow structure solution and refinement on the  screen.  In  the
 final stage a menu-driven interface  is  available  in  order  to
 study molecular geometry and restart refinement. Due to the small
 ratio  "number  of  observations  /  number  of  parameters"  the
 residual R values  must  be  carefully  considered  by  the  user
 (usually final values between 0.06 and 0.20).
 SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT: The program has  been  written  in  standard
 Fortran77. A module written in C language is supplied in order to
 interface the program with X-window or  DEC-Window  terminal  for
 graphics. Therefore, besides a C compiler,  an  Xlib  library  is
 also needed. Two ASCII files are associated to the  program:  the
 first contains coefficients for calculating  scattering  factors,
 the second, necessary for graphics, contains on-line help.
 HARDWARE  ENVIRONMENT:  The  program  runs  on   UNIX   and   DEC
 workstations, on mainframe and on personal  computers  (for  this
 last one 4 Mbytes of RAM and a VGA monitor are needed).
 PROGRAM SPECIFICATION: The source code of the program consists of
 44.000 FORTRAN lines and of 2000 C lines (including comments).
 DOCUMENTATION: Users instructions and program description  (about
 1400 lines) are supplied as an ASCII text file.
 AVAILABILITY: The program is available free of  charge  from  the
 teams in Bari and in Perugia.  A  licence  agreement  has  to  be
 signed.
                             REFERENCES
 Altomare, A., Cascarano,  G.,  Giacovazzo,  C.,  Guagliardi,  A.,
    Burla, M.C., Polidori, G.  &  Camalli,  M.  (1994).  J.  Appl.
    Cryst. 27,000-000.
 Baggio, R., Woolfson, M.M., Declercq, J.P. & Germain, G.  (1978).
    Acta Cryst. A34,883-892.
 Giacovazzo, C. (1977). Acta Cryst. A33,933-944.
 Giacovazzo, C. (1980). Acta Cryst. A36,362-372.
 Main, P. (1978). Acta Cryst. A34,31-38.