Ravaged by time: how crystal structure determation from X-ray powder diffraction data helps to defeat “Byne’s desease”

Historical calcareous objects, such as antique amphorae, are exposed to a variety of environmental influences over centuries during storage in museums. White, needle-shaped efflorescence crystals are particularly common on calcareous objects, which is known as "Bynes disease". The sometimes extremely complex crystal structures of some of these compounds were solved by us from X-ray powder diffraction data. In addition to the purely scientific interest, we were also able to make contributions to the preservation of calcareous cultural assets.