Nucleation Inhibition of Benzoic Acid through Solution Complexation

Abstract

The inhibition of the nucleation of benzoic acid in water through chemical complexation with 1,3-di-o-tolylguanidine was characterized quantitatively and experimentally. A large data set of crystallization experiments was employed to establish the probability distributions that define the stochastic nature of sample induction times. The shifts in the nucleation rates upon addition of the complexing agent were monitored to characterize the inhibition effect. The experiments were carried out under careful control of system supersaturation and were designed to establish the mechanistic root cause that led to inhibition. To ensure supersaturation consistency, the impact of the addition of complexing agent on benzoic acid solubility was experimentally determined and accounted for in the design of induction time measurements. Results showed that complexation successfully led to significant nucleation inhibition, increasing the representative induction time of benzoic acid by 160% with a concentration of 0.05 mg...