Research work of Prof. Vladislav Blatov and Dr. Olga Blatova in Italy 
9 November 2017

20171108-02From October 28 until November 6, 2017 Prof. Vladislav Blatov and Dr. Olga Blatova, a senior research scientist, have been working in the universities of Milan and Florence (Italy) within Mega-grant of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The development of a new exchange format for topological data on crystal structures and finalizing the research paper on applications of a new prediction method of microporous structures to hypothetic zeolite frameworks were the main goals of their mission. Both works are developed in cooperation with the leading scientist of the Mega-grant Prof. Davide M. Proserpio.

In August 2017 at the XXIV Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography 2017 in Hyderabad (India) Prof. Vladislav Blatov discussed the development of the new computer format of topological data with Dr. Kamil Dziubek, a representative of the European laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy of the University of Florence. The issue of topological data exchange is long overdue, as lots of research works require such data or deliver it as a result. The most commonly used presentation format of crystal structure data, CIF, does not solve the issue. Prof. Blatov and Prof. Proserpio prepared the proposals on CIF format improvement and submitted them to the International Union of Crystallography. At present only ToposPro software package can employ the modernized format. The objective is to make this format a worldwide standard.

Dr. Olga Blatova has been working on prediction of new microporous zeolite frameworks applying methods developed in SCTMS. Her research is now on the final stages. As a result, it will present the list of hypothetic zeolite frameworks prospective for laboratory synthesis. Dr. Blatova’s research is important practically as the synthesis of every new zeolite is a complex scientific task.