Electron crystallography of organic materials

The application of electron crystallography to the study of organic materials is reviewed, mainly in context of the author's own experience. Direct methods for crystallographic phase determination have been shown to be very effective for ab initio structure analyses with electron diffraction intensities, permitting the elucidation of previously uncharacterized crystal structures. Fruitful applications areas have included chain-folded linear polymers, pigments, polydisperse linear chain arrays and, surprisingly, the subgroup assembly of certain proteins.