An X—Rax Crystallographic Study Of Some Wob Extragt

The discovery of X-ray was first reported in 1895 and in 1915 its

diffraction by örystals was also discovered by a number of workers

including Bragg^ and Laue^ . The use of this property of X-ray to

4

determine the struoture of some simple crystals was reported the

same year. This property has become a powerful tool in modern Science

particularly in the.fields of Physics, Chemistry, Metallurgy and

Mineralogy. It has provided an easy approach to the study of the norphology

of crystals and has led to methods of finding the locations of the

atoms in the unit cell of the crystal of any compound«

The determination of the atomic positions leads to a detailed

knowledge of the geometry of the nolecule, the spatial distribution of

the atoms and Information such as bond distances and angles and the

forces (intra-molecular and intemolecular) that may be inferred from

the spatial distribution of the atoms in the crystal,

The X-ray crystallographic method was applied to mostly inorganic

structures at the early stages of its development. Recently the

application to organic chemistry has become pronounced and it has been

used to elucidate the structure of many complex organic substances such

as haemoglobin and vitamin * •

In this worlc an attempt is made to determine the structure of two

vrood extractives: Cedrela Odorata Substance B and Turraeanthin.