Bb. Iversen et al., Accurate charge densities in days - use of synchrotrons, image plates and very low temperatures, ACT CRYST B, 55, 1999, pp. 363-374
Extensive synchrotron (28 K) and conventional sealed-tube (9 K) X-ray diffr
action data have been collected on tetrakis(dimethylphosphinodithioato-S,S'
)thorium(IV), [Th(S2PMe2)(4)]. The use of very low temperatures, well below
those obtained with liquid-nitrogen cooling, is crucial for the accuracy o
f the data. This is due to minimization of temperature-dependent systematic
errors such as TDS and anharmonicity, and extension and intensification of
the data in reciprocal space. Comparison of structural parameters derived
separately from the sealed-tube data and the synchrotron data shows good ag
reement. The synchrotron data are markedly superior when comparing refineme
nt residuals, standard uncertainties (s.u.'s) of the data and s.u.'s of the
derived parameters. However, the study suggests that there are still small
uncorrected systematic errors in the data. The very large extent [(sin the
ta/lambda)(max) = 1.77 Angstrom(-1)] of the synchrotron data and the very l
ow temperature at which they were collected makes it possible to separate a
nharmonic effects from electron-deformation effects even with only an X-ray
data set at a single temperature. The electron density shows a large polar
ization of the outer Th core of d-type symmetry. This deformation is succes
sfully modelled with contracted multipolar functions, which are only slight
ly correlated with anharmonic expansions in reciprocal space when using the
full extent of the data. In the data collection more than a factor of 100
in speed is gained by use of image-plate area detectors at the synchrotron
source compared with conventional sequential measurements. Thus accurate, v
ery low temperature synchrotron-radiation diffraction data can now be measu
red within days, which makes electron-density studies of compounds beyond t
he first transition series more frequently within reach.