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Diamond Version 5 User Manual: Editing structural data

Connection Parameters

These parameters are usually imported from "_geom_bond_xxx", "_geom_contact_xxx", and "_geom_hbond_xxx" loops in CIF

Connection parameters in brief:
- Parameters are editable in the dialog "Structure/Connection Parameters", which has three tabs (pages).
- Tables of bond, H-bond, and contact parameters are available from the "Tables" sub-menu of the "View" menu.

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We use the compound COD:1501635 for demonstation in this article. Opening the sample file COD-1501635.diamdoc starts with a blank picture.

Bond, H-bond and contact parameters

You have been knowing the table of atomic parameters in the data pane right beneath the structure picture view since Diamond version 2. Since version 4 this table is supplemented by three more tables:
a) The table of bond parameters. These parameters are usually derived from CIF "_geom_bond_xxx" loops and define selected bonds (that may be important in a publication for instance) or even a whole (ensemble of) molecule(s).
b) The table of contact parameters. Like the bond parameters, these usually come from "_geom_contact_xxx" loops.
c) The table of H-bond parameters. These describe relations between an H-atom, a donor atom and an acceptor atom each with bond lengths/atom distances and an angle each (usually from "_geom_hbond_xxx").

Like the atomic parameters, these connection parameters can be edited using the command "Connection Parameters..." from the "Structure" menu. The dialog has three tabs (pages) for the bonding, contacting and H-bond parameters, rsp.


Screenshot of "Bonds" page of "Connection Parameters" dialog listing bond parameters defined in COD-1501635.diamdoc. The rightmost column shows the reported distance (usually from _geom_bond_distance in CIF loop), "d1,2 calc." the value calculated by Diamond.


Screenshot of "Contacts" page of "Connection Parameters" dialog listing parameters for non-bonding contacts, defined in COD-1501635.diamdoc. The rightmost column shows the reported distance (usually from _geom_bond_distance in CIF loop). "d1,2 calc." is calculated by Diamond. "d1,2 - RvdwS" is the distance relative to the sum of the van der Waals radii.


Screenshot of "H-Bonds" page of "Connection Parameters" dialog listing H-bond parameters defined in COD-1501635.diamdoc. The four numeric values shown are the distance between donor and acceptor, between donor and H, between H and acceptor, as well as the angle D,H,A, reported usually from _geom_hbond_xxx CIF items.

Tables of bond, contact, and H-bond parameters
In addition to the table of atomic parameters, the tables for bond, H-bond, and contact parameters are available through the "View"/"Table" sub-menu or from the corresponding dropdown menu in the right part of the main toolbar. The screenshot shows COD:1501635 with table of contact parameters and properties of the highlighted contact parameter:

 


Screenshot of "Table" dropdown menu from the main toolbar   

Adding all atoms (and connections) in a structure picture
In some cases, the bond parameters are used to strike out several bonding spheres, spheres that may differ from those generated by effective radii, for instance. But in many other cases, the bond parameters, together with the atomic parameters, can serve as a simple starting point to create molecule(s) directly from the atomic parameter list. This is done in Diamond with the command "Add All Atoms and Connections..." from the "Build" menu. This also considers non-bonding contacts and H-bonds when mentioned in the structure input parameters. Read the article "Adding All Atoms (and Bonds) of the Parameter List(s)" for details.


Previous article: Atomic parameters
Next article: Automatic vs. manual picture creation

References:
COD:1501635: Ulrich Darbost, Janie Cabana, Eric Demers, Thierry Maris, James D. Wuest; Molecular Tectonics. "Use of Br...aryl Supramolecular Interactions for the construction of Organized Networks from 9,9'-spirobifluorene in the Crystalline State"; CheM, 1 (2011), 52-12369.