journal article·2026-03Open access

Rapid Structural Analysis of Natural Products Using MicroED

Jieye Lin, Orel Paz, Johan Unge, Tamir Gonen

Small· Volume 22· Issue 15

Abstract

ABSTRACT Structural analysis of natural products remains challenging due to their inherent complexity and limited availability. By solving nine chemically diverse natural products of high priority that have resisted reported 3D structures for years, we demonstrate that microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) can systematically and feasibly be applied to natural‐product structure elucidation on samples that were previously unattainable by other structural methods. In addition, using microgram quantities of material and side‐stepping the process to create large single crystals, the success rate is still comparable to other techniques on a general sample using larger amounts of the sample. We suggest that MicroED is not only a necessary technique but also a general and efficient tool for many applications.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Enzyme Structure and Function · Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications · Molecular spectroscopy and chirality

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Biological Chemistry University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles California USA

Molecular Biology Institute University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles California USA

Howard Hughes Medical Institute University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles California USA

Department of Chemistry Umeå University Umeå Sweden

Department of Physiology University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles California USA

Funding

National Institutes of Health · Howard Hughes Medical Institute · U.S. Department of Defense

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