Polymorphism stabilization by crystal adsorption on a self-assembled monolayerElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: XRD, AFM, DSC, XPS and SEM images. See DOI: 10.1039/c3ce41237g

• Main Authors: Moshe, Hagay, Levi, Gila, Mastai, Yitzhak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 21.10.2013
• ISSN: 1466-8033
• DOI: 10.1039/c3ce41237g

The control over crystal polymorphism is a well-established subject in crystallization and materials chemistry. In recent years, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with different functionalized groups have been used as a new chemical approach to control crystal nucleation and polymorphism. In this paper, we focus on a study of the different mechanisms involved in polymorphism control by crystallization onto SAMs. We study the crystallization of l -glutamic acid on SAMs with various functionalized end groups: R-OH, R-CH 3 and R-COOH. Furthermore, in this work we select crystallization conditions in which we can identify different mechanisms of polymorphism stabilization and show that functionalized SAMs can be used to stabilize crystal polymorphism by means of crystal adsorption from the crystallization solution onto SAMs, and not merely by nucleation and crystal growth onto the SAMs. In this paper, we focus on a study of the different mechanisms involved in polymorphism control by crystallization onto SAMs and it is shown that functionalized SAMs can be used to stabilize crystal polymorphism by means of crystal adsorption from the crystallization solution onto the SAMs, and not merely by nucleation and crystal growth onto the SAMs.