The suitability of Ta6Br12(2+) for phasing in protein crystallography.

The title compound Ta6Br12(2+) is of interest for the analysis of biological structures as a heavy metal derivative with great potential for the structure determination of large protein systems. In macromolecular crystallography the phases of the measured structure factor amplitudes have to be determined by compounds that produce measurable changes of the diffraction intensities. Ta6Br12(2+) uniquely meets the demands of a heavy metal derivative and is an important tool for phase determination, especially considering the structure determination of large protein systems.