Glycine polymorphism presents a conundrum: while the metastable α form of glycine typically crystallises in bulk cooling crystallisation from aqueous solution, both the highly unstable β and stable γ forms can be selectively crystallised in small scale cooling or evaporative experiments, without any additives, cosolvents or external fields. Small scale experiments in microwells or droplets differ from bulk crystallisation in some key aspects: absence of agitation, presence of large (and often very particular) surface areas per crystallisation volume, and ability to reach very high supersaturations. In this work we investigated effects of agitation on polymorphic outcomes in glycine crystallisation from aqueous solutions across a wide range of supersaturations at mL scale under quiescent conditions with and without a PTFE-coated magnetic stirrer (without any stirring) as well as under stirred conditions (with agitation supplied by the stirrer). In the absence of stirring, γ was predominant at higher glycine concentrations, which indicates that γ is more likely to nucleate than α in highly supersaturated aqueous solutions under quiescent conditions. Intriguingly, we found that under stirred conditions α was predominant at all concentrations and temperatures investigated. The effect of stirring on the preference for α glycine polymorphism cannot be fully explained by secondary nucleation alone. Instead, primary nucleation of glycine (at least of metastable forms) is strongly enhanced by stirring, in agreement with previous observations of shear effect on primary nucleation of glycine, and it is likely that similar effects play a role in other polymorphic systems of pharmaceutical interest. † Raw data is available open access through the following DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.15129/9a4ec7f5-fe41-4ec2-92ef-a9abca03b217 ‡ Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Contains information about quenched cooling experiments and movement induced nucleation. See
Crystal nucleation from solution plays an important role in environmental, biological, and industrial processes and mainly occurs at interfaces, although the mechanisms are not well understood. We performed nucleation experiments on glycine aqueous solutions and found that an oil–solution interface dramatically accelerates glycine nucleation compared to an air–solution interface. This is surprising given that nonpolar, hydrophobic oil (tridecane) would not be expected to favor heterogeneous nucleation of highly polar, hydrophilic glycine. Molecular dynamics simulations found significantly enhanced vs depleted glycine concentrations at the oil–solution vs air–solution interfaces, respectively. We propose that this interfacial concentration effect facilitates heterogeneous nucleation, and that it is due to dispersion interactions. This interface effect is distinct from previously described mechanisms, including surface functionalization, templating, and confinement and is expected to be present in a wide range of solution systems. This work provides new insight that is essential for understanding and controlling heterogeneous nucleation.
The polymer glass transition is an important property in a wide variety of applications. The glass transition temperature of a polymer composite or confined thin film can be significantly different to the pure polymer. Molecular dynamics simulations are useful for providing molecular level insight and prediction, particularly at interfaces, that are not easily observable experimentally. However, there are significant methodological uncertainties in calculating the polymer glass transition temperature using molecular dynamics simulations. In this work we investigate how the cooling method, fitting range and statistical variation affects the calculated glass transition temperature of polyethylene. We found that it is necessary to perform multiple independent simulations to obtain statistically significant results, and that appropriate fitting ranges must be chosen. The methodological findings were used to investigate the difference in glass transition temperature between pure polyethylene and a polyethylene film confined between graphene surfaces. It was found that the glass transition temperature of a 9 nm thick confined film was higher than bulk polyethylene by approximately 15 K.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.