iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 13h

How easy to work with real professionals - I asked couple of questions, one "What it could be?", with very vague characterization that I had - got exact answer in couple of hours. On my second question I got very direct answer "I don't know",

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LeSuPer @lesuper.bsky.uy · 02/10/2026

In order to celebrate #Quartz' victory in #MinCup26 a 3D model is in the making (promised during round 1). It gets more complex by the unit and failing one connection will make it glass 😖. At this point very careful steps are being taken so progress is slow. Hopefully I will finish it on Sunday! 🤞🏻

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Stefano Canossa @stecanossa.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

♨️ Warming up Fourier Tiler with a new release, including Temperature param. in the crystal builder! Also: my fancy friends using macOS will not be left alone in this one 🫶 Have fun! ...and let's hope this new version makes the Reviewers happy 😏🤞 Get your copy here: github.com/stecanossa/F...

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I received taurine, and we had Mg(OH)2 in the lab, so now I can do synthesis(crossed) memes; memes are better! Short reminder (volume VI, part 7) for those who did not followed #TaurateCurse series: #chemsky #chemchat #crystallography #SupplementsSaga

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

*Scratching head* It looks like I now have the knowledge to formulate a real scientifically driven a X-in-1 magnesium supplement. No-no-no, not yet another world best supplement – I can make the world _worst_ magnesium supplement! (It would be legal in most countries) Bad PR is PR, isn’t it?

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I remember that cooking onion soup involves a glass of wine, but what exactly should I do with it? #chemchat

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I accidentally made a Halloween decoration - a TA asked to print a cyclodextrin with a guest molecule for school activities. But the pumpkin style was accidental, I picked colours randomly. #chemchat #crystallography

A space-filling model of the beta-cyclodextrin with guest molecule.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Can you imaging such phrase from pharma? "The starting materials are never used up completely, so there is always leftover starting material, which is allowed, otherwise no substances could ever be produced for healthcare and food supplements. As long as those materials are harmless." #chemsky

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Moving to rather something positive, because except food supplements "professionals", I am dealing people who care about their work and doing exiting things. Thank to EU office of @rigakuoxfordxrd.bsky.social, on (very long) Monday I had opportunity to try their electron diffractometer, Synergy ED.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Back to greedy food supplement chemists - who can afford them? Maybe be a corporation like Nestle, for example? Well, seems yes, but only part-time, for some products - let me show. The product #1 from Pure Encapsulations is Magnesium Bisglycinate. #chemchat #chemsky #SupplementsSaga

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Ouch... This is a brand from Nestle, btw. (A post coming soon.) #chemchat #SupplementsSaga

Bla-bla-bla about quality from https://www.pureencapsulations.be/fr/pure-quality-process

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"Thank you for your email. We are unable to open two of the attachments you sent. Please could you send them in a different format so our Quality Team can have a look at the results." Pdf, I send you a pdf! It took them to 2 months not open a pdf. #TaurateCurse #SupplementsSaga #chemchat

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A long 16-hours working day is over and I have a beautiful mug at the end. Ah, ànd few nice shiny crystal structures too! #crystallography #chemchat

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Me: I am sure it is an anhydrous phase. A picture of “anhydrous phase”.

An asymmetric unit of magnesium L-threonate.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We have that much of the impurity of citric acid in the sample. Guess, a particle of which phase we selected first for ED? #crystallography #chemsky #chemchat

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Do know what is the most well-paid profession? Do you think it is a CEO or some kind of an AI Software Engineer? Nope, not at all – it is food supplement chemist, they are asking _so_ much that almost nobody can afford them. #SupplementsSaga #chemsky #chemchat

A PXRD of food supplement from Thorne https://www.thorne.com/products/dp/magnesium-citramate, showing that it contains undeclared magnesium oxide.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

"Fake-Of-The-Day" This one is boring - just another "magnesium taurate", part 31. Today I have Mg taurate from Mattisson: www.mattisson.nl/magnesium-ta... As any other "magnesium taurate" supplements, it contains zero of magnesium taurate. #TaurateCurse #SupplementsSaga #chemchat #chemsky

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Helen MC @crystallised-cricket.com · 17/09/2026

So into round 2 of #MinCup26 and I'm going to keep with my 'what's the more interesting crystal structure' criteria. I have always had a thing for 3-fold symmetry so am a sucker for the trigonal carbonate groups - #Azurite gets my vote over #Sphalerite today.

An image of the crystal structure of Azurite - red sphere represent oxygen atoms, brown spheres carbon atoms, blue spheres/polygons represent copper atoms and pink atoms represent hydrogen atoms. The representation is drawn in VESTA from #8598 in the American mineralogist database.

Image of the crystal structure of Sphalerite - here yellow sphere represent sulfur atoms and grey spheres/polygons represent zinc. The structure is viewed off the principle axes so that the repeats can be seen and is drawn in VESTA from #110 in the American mineralogist database

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

"Fake-Of-The-Day", special episode 3. The last fake form of magnesium supplements: magnesium lysinate glycinate. Absolutely zero information in the literature. From the chemical name it is Mg2+ connected to one glycinate anion and one lysinate anion. But what it is reality? #chemchat

A fragment of supplement label, stating that it contains magnesium lysinate glycinate

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Ok, team #Azurite, it is time to close the gap and win this round! For the rabbits! Medieval rabbits. Medieval killer rabbits, to be precise. Do you know that mineral was used for blue pigment to paint the shield? Yep, azurite!* *most probably.

A hound riding on a rabbit and a rabbit riding on a snail battle with shields and lances. The Breviary of Renaud de Bar (Winter portion), Metz, France, 1302-03: Yates Thompson MS 8, f. 294r source: https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2021/06/killer-rabbits.html

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Pouring expensive liquids today or, in other words, playing a role of backup sidekick for helium refills of NMRs. #chemchat

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Who cares about h-index and other similar metric, when there are real achivements! (thanks @ccdc.cam.ac.uk for pdf of the report) #CSDLeaderboard #crystallography #chemchat

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Today my vote in #MinCup26 is for #Graphite - it is not only fancy pencils, but also important part of batteries. Look, we did In operando PXRD of a battery with graphite recently. And have more stories about graphite for next round. Vote #Graphite!

In operando PXRD of a battery with graphite.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

And here we go again... (3+1)-dimensional incommensurately modulated structure of organic molecule - modulation of orientation. Just now I need to go from stage "I know all these words and can wave hands about it" to "make final structure", because publication is coming. #crystalography #chemchat

A screenshot of Jana2020 cookbook webpage.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Behold! The #TaurateCurse is broken! At the end, I had to "develop" the synthesis myself and I got crystals (with help of the colleague who can actually did manipulations in the synthesis lab). But now I had to change the draft of the article, changing "magnesium taurate does not exist" to...

A fragment of magnesium taurate crystal structure, the real one.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

I introduced MinCup to our lab last year and it was/is much more popular topic of discussion during lunch that any ball-kicking stuff. This year, after few initial rounds, students said that they did not like results of voting, so they decided to fork #MinCup26.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

My vote for #halite, a favorite mineral of protein crystallographers, they like its' beautiful crystals in the screening plates! *running away*

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Yeah, I know- vikings, birefringence, etc for #Calcite, but there is tragic story behind #Julienite and it is connected to Belgium and Congo. And today (by coincidence) I helped a colleague from DRC with analysis of Congolese minerals. So, #Julienite for today! #MinCup26

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Are you ready for next episode of “Fake-Of-The-Day”? Today is something special - dimagnesium malate. (Disclaimer: chemists may found the following thread highly disturbing) #chemsky #chemchat #magnesium #SupplementsSaga 1/n

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Oh, #pyromorphite is related to the LK-99 "superconductor" story! (thanks @louisedawe.bsky.social for info). It is my choice for today. #MinCup26

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Helen MC @crystallised-cricket.com · 09/09/2026

It is time, Australia, to vote for #Putnisite in today's #MinCup26. Why, well it's a very Aussie mineral, discovered on the remote Polar Bear peninsular of WA www.mindat.org/loc-240988.h..., found by CSIRO scientists and named after Australian mineralogists. The structure is also beautiful!

Image representing the crystal structure of putnisite - here red spheres represent oxygen atoms, light blue spheres/polygons represent calcium atoms, dark blue spheres/polygons represent silicon atoms, brown spheres/polygons represent carbon atoms, green spheres/polygons represent strontium atoms. There is also some chromium hiding in the structure that is in part represented by a yellow triangle. The representation is drawn in VESTA from entry #20044 in the American mineralogist database

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

In this round of #MinCup26 there is only one right choice and it is clear - #Putnisite. However, there is a mistake in description of locality - no way it is Polar Bear Peninsula - it is clearly Meerkat Peninsula! And, c'mon #Australia, the closest polar bear is 3500 km away!

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Kerstin Neuhaus @microtopico.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

That's why I'm especially thrilled that the mineral named after them is in #MinCup26. And the color and relative higher hardness compared to talc makes it even more convincing. Go #Putnisite! 4/4 ⚒️

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Louise Dawe @louisedawe.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

As reported by Krivovicheva in @actacrystb.iucr.org, the chromium hydroxy-carbonate cluster in #putnisite has no close chemical or topological counterpart in synthetic chemistry. Nature did that. Vote Putnisite for #MinCup! journals.iucr.org/b/issues/202...

journals.iucr.org

Polyoxometalate clusters in minerals: review and complexity analysis

This article reviews current progress in the investigations of polyoxometalate clusters in minerals.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

*A teaser for couple of special "Fake of The Day"* I got a package from one of my favorite supplier of fake food supplements. What will I find inside? Mystery awaits... (I think it is quite obvious what I will _not_ find inside.) #magnesium #supplements #SupplemenentsSaga 1/2

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

My vote today goes to do-not-lick #Orpiment that remind me about strange sense of humor of mineralogists. Heard about "healing crystals"? Something that starts from "pharma" definitely healing, right? Like pharmacoalumite, pharmacolite, pharmacosiderite or pharmazincite? All of them contain arsenic

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I am a crystallographer, but I mainly onorganic chemistry crystallographer, not a mineralogist. So, in most of the cases, if am dealing with minerals, it mean problems. Like here, where sample was a mixture of hexahydrite and chalcocite. Not what you expect from organic synthesis… #chemchat

A crystal structure of one magnesium sulfates, probably hexahydrite.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Sorry, but with such composition and such locality, choice is obviously. #MinCup26

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

“I am a cow, I tell you. Leave me alone.”

Two cows and a wild pig that pretends to be a cow. A field near Namur, Belgium,

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

@molecularxtal.bsky.social , I see that somebody is coming to the town :) « Machine Learning for Materials Discovery: From screening to Advanced Simulations »

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Being trained by some hardcore crystallographers, I still able to draw the unit cell of #Sphalerite by hand (~20 years later), but the Moon rock is the Moon rock, so my vote goes to #Anorthite, even it is not winning today. #MinCup26

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Quite radical "disconnect from work".

downdetector screenshoot, showing serious problems with Outlook.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Another "Fake of The Day" from local supermarket Delhaize (thanks to wife who pointed me to a new product). "Magnesium bisglycinate" with Mg content = 18%. As reminder, theoretical maximum is 14.1% #chemchat #SupplementsSaga

A label of magnesium bisglycinate food supplement with impossible Mg content.

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

How would you read the name of this supplement? #chemchat

A bottle of a food supplement with name HarmBrain. whaaat?

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Night and thunderstorm - perfect time to present "The Cursed Glycine"! Let's start from light L-glycine: #chemchat 1/x

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Nikolay Tumanov @ntumanovxray.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Remember these guys? I tested one bottle two months ago and it was ~49% "pure". I thought that it was one-batch failure, but I was wrong. I bought second bottle myself in Calgary and tested by PXRD + TGA. Nope, apparently they have a systematic problem with quality. 1/x #chemsky #chemchat

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