The iron carborane complex below,
At this point, the cell contains one molecule; this is the so-called asymmetric unit. The other three molecules in the cell will be related to this one by the space group symmetry. To rotate the cell, move the cursor inside the java frame while holding down the (left) mouse button.
The center of symmetry is at the origin of the unit cell. This symmetry operation "inverts" each atom through the origin to produce an identical symmetry-related atom with co-ordinates -x, -y, -z (click on "center").
This molecule is in a neighboring unit cell. Translate it by one unit cell length in each of the
a b and c directions:
These two molecules are related by a center of symmetry at ½, ½, ½ .
