Assignment of Absolute Structure of Polar Crystals Using Tailor-Made Additives. Solvent Surface Interactions on the Polar Crystals of α-Resorcinol, (R, S) Alanine and Y-Glycine

Abstract
Various properties of polar crystals, in particular the effect of solvent on their growth, are directly related to the absolute structure of the crystal. The absolute structures of polar crystals composed of achiral molecules or racenic mixtures were assigned by three independent methods involving growth and dissolution in the presence of tailor made additives: Inhibition of crystal growth, anisotropic distribution of the occluded additive, and formation of etch pits on partial dissolution of the crystal. The method has been applied to crystals of α-resorcinol, (R, S) alanine and γ-glycine, each of which exhibits oxygen-rich and hydrogen-rich faces at the opposite ends of polar axes. All three crystals were found to grow almost unidirectionally from water at the oxygen-rich end of the crystal. The results are analysed in terms of solvent-surface interactions.

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