An evaluation of the use of a commercial scanner to obtain experimental data produced by gas-phase electron diffraction and recorded on photographic plates

A commercial scanner (Agfa Arcus II) has been used to retrieve electron-diffraction data from photographic plates. The data thus obtained from five different molecules has been analysed and the results compared with the original published data. Excellent agreement was observed between bond distances and amplitudes obtained from refinements on data collected from this scanner, a similar scanner and a micro-densitometer, It is planned to use the Agfa Arcus II scanner for future measurement of electron-diffraction intensity data from photographic plates. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.