Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction is powerful technique for the determination the chemical nature (chemical formula) of crystallin solids, their crystal structure and the arrangement of the atoms and molecules within the unit cell. This technique is a non-destructive method, and it needs only small crystals with dimensions ranging between 20 and 400 micrometers, depending on the chemical composition. For example, small crystals for material containing heavy elements and large crystals for organic crystals with light elements.
A lot of information can be extracted from crystal structure data, including the chemical formula, the interatomic bond lengths and angles, torsion and dihedral angles, connectivity, and interaction of the molecules and polyhedral, hydrogen bonds, conformation of molecules, absolute configuration, polymorphism, etc.
The crystal structure model is the starting point for chemists, material scientists, physicists, and others to calculate the electronic structure, understand the nature of bonding and explain the physical properties of solids.