= Single-wavelength anomalous dispersion
{wiki=Single-wavelength_anomalous_dispersion}
Single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) is a technique used in X-ray crystallography to solve the phase problem, which is crucial for determining the three-dimensional structures of macromolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The phase problem arises because X-ray diffraction data only provide the amplitudes of the diffracted waves, but not their phases, which are necessary for reconstructing the electron density map.
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