The use of synchrotron radiation in X-ray charge density analysis of coordination complexes

The compelling advantages of synchrotron radiation (SR) in charge density studies of coordination complexes are described and illustrated with a number of recent synchrotron studies, ordered according to the atomic number of the metal atom involved (Cr, Fe, Cu, Zr, Mo, Th). The review concludes with two studies of the Cu-containing extended solids Cu2O and the high-temperature superconducting phase YBa2Cu3O6.98, done with very high energy synchrotron radiation of about 100 keV (∼0.12 Å), very much beyond what is available at conventional X-ray sources.