Time-resolved X-ray diffraction provides direct information on three-dimensional structures of reacting molecules and thus can be used to elucidate structural dynamics of chemical and biological reactions. In this review, we discuss time-resolved X-ray diffraction on small molecules and proteins with particular emphasis on its application to crystalline (crystallography) and liquid-solution (liquidography) samples. Time-resolved X-ray diffraction has been used to study picosecond and slower dynamics at synchrotrons and can now access even femtosecond dynamics with the recent arrival of X-ray free-electron lasers.
Keywords: X-ray free-electron laser; serial femtosecond crystallography; structural dynamics; time-resolved X-ray crystallography; time-resolved X-ray diffraction; time-resolved X-ray liquidography.