Structure of supersaturated solution and crystal nucleation induced by diffusion

Abstract

The effect of a seed crystal on nucleation of l-alanine from a quiescent supersaturated solution was investigated. When a seed crystal was not used, nucleation did not occur at least for 5h. When a seed crystal was introduced into the supersaturated solution with careful attention to avoid convection of the solution, fine crystals appeared at the place far from the seed crystal. At that time, there was no convection at the place that fine crystals appeared. Namely, there was no possibility that those fine crystals came from the surface of seed crystal. We supposed that nucleation was induced by directional diffusion of solute molecules caused by growth of the seed crystal. In order to prove this hypothesis, we designed an experiment using an apparatus composed of two compartments divided by a dialysis membrane that l-alanine molecules could freely permeate. Two supersaturated solutions having a supersaturation ratio of 1.2 and a smaller ratio were placed in the two compartments in the absence of seed crystals. This apparatus allowed the directional diffusion of solute molecules between two solutions. Nucleation occurred within 30min. The frequency of nucleation among 7-times repeated experiments was in proportion to the difference of supersaturation ratio between the two solutions. This result poses a new mechanism of the secondary nucleation that the directional diffusion caused by growth of existing crystals induces nucleation.