The FAIRE programme is making structural science accessible worldwide
The mission of the Frank H. Allen International Research and Education Programme (FAIRE) is to support research and education in underrepresented communities and make structural data more accessible worldwide. Institutions from 82 eligible countries can apply and if the application is successful the programme covers the cost of campus-level access to CSD-Enterprise for three years. Currently, there are 24 active sites divided between 17 countries.
Prof. Mohammed Lachkar, from the University of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Faculty of Sciences, in Morocco, highlights that “Having access to the provided data from ConQuest has helped the students search and analyze their raw data so they can conclude about their structures. It is also worthy of mentioning that drawing the structures in an original software was pretty good for our publications, the graphics quality looks much better than before.”
PhD students, postdocs, and researchers from the Faculty of Sciences have accessed the CSD license since 2019. “Thanks to the demo and tutorials provided for Mercury and ConQuest, the students become familiar with how to use, draw and interpret the structures in terms of interactions, crystallographic planes, geometries, and packing.” His research group published recently about the formation, crystal structure, catalytic performance, and sorbence activities of [Ni(N2H5)2(C2O4)2]·2H2O, using the data from the CSD.
The FAIRE programme was launched at the IUCr Congress meeting in India in 2017, over the years it has supported many institutions and researchers worldwide. Prof. Habib Nasri, Head of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Materials at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Monastir, Tunisia, and member of the Tunisian Crystallographic Society refers that “Thanks to FAIRE my master’s, PhD students, and I can finish many projects in the porphyrins in metalloporphyrin domain”. He explained the focus of his research “The synthesis, the spectroscopic and structural characterizations of new porphyrins and metalloporphyrins. These species are used in many areas such as catalysts, sensors, and photosensitizers in the photodynamic therapy of cancers. Our new metalloporphyrins need to be characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction to determine their molecular structures.” They published a paper, in November 2021, on spectroscopic characterization, X-ray molecular structures, and cyclic voltammetry, which used CSD software to generate images of the structures.
Prof. Habib Nasri and his research group
“Since 2010, more than seventy papers were published by our research group. These papers include crystallographic data taken from the CSD.”, Prof. Habib Nasri continues: “Our need for the database is to see if new porphyrin and metalloporphyrin compounds have been characterized by X-ray molecular structure and especially to compare our structures with the related compounds for whom the structures are reported in the CSD.”
Are you a FAIRE user? Let us know your stories about how using the CSD software in your institutions has helped you to advance your research. We would love to share with the wider community.
Learn more about FAIRE and how to apply.
Download the free version of Mercury.
Watch the tutorials about Mercury and ConQuest on our YouTube channel.
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