Preliminary observations of the effect of solutal convection on crystal morphology

Beth, M.; Broom, H.; Witherow, William K.; Snyder, Robert S.; Carter, Daniel C.

doi:10.1016/0022-0248(88)90307-7

Cited by 20 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Schaefer and Glicksman [1] computed the growth behavior of spherical crystal nuclei in highly supercooled liquids and concluded that under some conditions of high supercooling and rapid interface kinetics, the spherical particle will continue to grown indefinitely with a stable spherical shape. Beth et al [2] examined the effects of convection on crystal morphology using sucrose, and found that many factors appear to interact in a complex fashion to influence crystal morphology. The dependence of the crystal morphology on orientation is much greater for crystals grown with one face occluded than for crystals grown suspended in solution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effect of far field flow on a spherical crystal growth in the undercooled melt

et al. 2008

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The effect of convective flow on a spherical crystal growth in the undercooled melt with a moderate far field flow is studied. The asymptotic solution of the evolution of the interface of the spherical crystal growth is obtained by the matched asymptotic expansion method. The analytic result shows that the convective flow in the undercooled melt has a strong effect on the evolution of spherical crystal growth. The convective flow induced by the far field flow makes the interface of the growing spherical crystal enhance its growth velocity in the upstream direction of the far field flow and inhibit growth in the downstream direction, and the interface of the decaying spherical crystal further decay in the upstream direction and inhibit decay in the downstream direction. The maximum growth velocity of the interface of the spherical crystal influenced by the far field flow is obtained.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effect of far field flow on a spherical crystal growth in the undercooled melt

et al. 2008

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“…[2][3][4] However, on the ground, because of gravity, these depletion zones are disturbed by convective fluid motions and sedimentation. [5][6][7][8] It is well known that a microgravity environment may maintain ideal depletion zones for protein crystal growth and may contribute to obtaining high-resolution diffracting crystals, with better internal order and fewer defects. 9,10 Using the applied protein crystallization facility (APCF) in space, a quasiperfect diffusive field was observed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Analysis of the Depletion Zone Formation Around a Growing Protein Crystal

Tanaka¹,

Inaka

Sugiyama

et al. 2004

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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It is expected that a protein depletion zone and an impurity depletion zone are formed around a crystal during protein crystal growth if the diffusion field around the crystal is not disturbed. The growth rate of the crystal may be decreased and the impurity uptake may be suppressed to result in highly ordered crystals if these zones are not disturbed. It is well known that a microgravity environment can reduce convective fluid motion, and this is thought to disturb the depletion zones. Therefore, we expect that crystals grown in space can attain better quality than those grown on the ground. In this study, we estimate the depletion zone formation numerically and discuss the results of crystallization in space experiments. In case of alpha-amylase, most of the crystals form a cluster-like morphology on the ground using PEG 8000 as a precipitant. However, in space, we have obtained a single and high-quality crystal grown from the same sample compositions. We have measured the viscosity of the solution, the diffusion coefficient, and the growth rate of protein crystals on the ground. Applying numerical analysis to these values a significant depletion zone was expected to form mainly due to higher values of the viscosity. This might be one of the main reasons for better quality single crystals grown in space, where the depletion zone is thought to remain undisturbed. For protein crystallization experiments, salts are widely used as a precipitant. However, in that case, reduced concentration depletion zone effects can be expected because of a low viscosity. Therefore, if it is possible to increase the viscosity of the protein solution by means of an additive, the depletion zone formation effect would be enhanced to provide a technique that would be especially effective in space.

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“…The increase in the average growth rate by increasing v arises from the enhancement in the convective supply of the growing units to the solid-liquid interface. 76 The achievement of a maximum in the curves of Fig. 6.19 is due to the shifting of the operative system working point to a regime with significantly faster transport and higher relative weight of interfacial kinetics effects in the overall control of the crystallization process.…”

Section: Effect Of the Forced Solution Convection On The Crystal Growmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, crystal quality improvement in microgravity was observed only in a few cases, 75 precluding this assumption being taken as a general rule. 76 On the contrary, macromolecular crystallization in conditions of axial flow, in a laminar regime, is found to improve the crystallization process, thus leading to high-quality crystals. [77][78][79][80][81][82][83] Nucleation is enhanced and, at an optimal flow rate (v), maximum nucleation can be attained.…”

Section: Growing Proteins In Forced Solution Convectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crystallization of Biomacromolecules

Drioli¹,

Profio²,

Curcio³

2015

Membrane-Assisted Crystallization Technology

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The crystallization of biomacromolecules by using membrane-assisted crystallization technology is described in this chapter. The discussion will focus on the interest in growing protein crystals and the current difficulties in obtaining them by conventional crystallization methods, the possibility to use MAC for the growth of protein crystals and the influence of controlling the transmembrane flux on crystallization kinetics, the function of polymeric membranes as solid support for heterogeneous nucleation and the correlation between membrane physical properties and the energetics of nucleation, and the effect of forced solution-flow convection on crystallization kinetics and its influence on crystal properties. Interest in Protein CrystallizationThe functions of biomolecules are strictly connected to their three-dimensional molecular structures. Therefore, the determination of the spatial arrangement of atoms or groups of atoms in protein molecules is of fundamental importance for the understanding of their biological activity and for designing new drug molecules that can act at active sites. 1 The 3D structure of proteins can be determined by X-ray or neutron diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. However, the crystallographic method is the one of choice, especially for molecules that are too large (M.W. > 20 kDa). Crystallography gives a higher resolution, reaching less than 1 Å for particularly complex systems like membrane-protein or viruses. 2 The basic requisite for structure resolution at the atomic level by X-ray diffraction is the availability of well-diffracting crystals of adequate size. 3 193 Membrane-Assisted Crystallization Technology Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG on 10/09/15. For personal use only.194 Membrane-Assisted Crystallization TechnologyAmong proteins, enzymes are the most efficient known catalysts because of their high substrate specificity. 4 However, their systematic utilization in solution at industrial scale has been rather limited due to their intrinsic labile nature under operative conditions. Poor chemical and mechanical stability at extreme temperatures and pH, high pressure, mechanical stress, and the presence of denaturing solvents and other chemicals, are the factors that have prevented enzymes from being extensively used. Also, in the solid state, proteins are normally characterized by pronounced fragility or shattering under relatively mild conditions. On the other hand, the possibility of producing a large amount of protein crystal with reduced, uniform, and predictable size, slow dissolution kinetics, and high chemical and mechanical stability would have remarkable implications in many biotechnological applications, e.g. for sustained constant rate drug release, in environmental protection applications, in chemical synthesis, etc. 5 In this respect, cross-linked enzyme crystals (CLECs) 6,7 are interesting systems whose production is a relatively simple, fast, and less expensive technique and one that does ...

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Preliminary observations of the effect of solutal convection on crystal morphology

Cited by 20 publications

References 14 publications

The effect of far field flow on a spherical crystal growth in the undercooled melt

The effect of far field flow on a spherical crystal growth in the undercooled melt

Numerical Analysis of the Depletion Zone Formation Around a Growing Protein Crystal

Crystallization of Biomacromolecules

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