Mike George, Paul Raithby and co-workers using photocrystallography to identify isomers in a nickel complex. Photocrystallography allows the groups to study metastable linkage isomers and they have shown that the technique provides scope for the identification of new species.
Photocrystallography involves the photo-activation of species within a crystalline lattice. It brings a dynamic aspect to X-ray crystallographic experiments, so that reactions within a crystal can be monitored as they occur or the structures of molecules in metastable or short-lived photo-activated states can be determined. Read more about the group’s findings in their Dalton Transactions Hot Article:
Photocrystallographic identification of metastable nitrito linkage isomers in a series of nickel(II) complexes
Simon K. Brayshaw, Timothy L. Easun, Michael W. George, Alexandra M. E. Griffin, Andrew L. Johnson, Paul R. Raithby, Teresa L. Savarese, Stefanie Schiffers, John E. Warren, Mark R. Warren and Simon J. Teat
Dalton Trans., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11379H