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Science 8 May 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5058, pp. 815 - 818
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5058.815
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Articles

Science, Vol 256, Issue 5058, 815-818
Copyright © 1992 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The role of crystal polarity in alpha-amino acid crystals for induced nucleation of ice

M Gavish, JL Wang, M Eisenstein, M Lahav, and L Leiserowitz

Department of Materials and Inferfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

The hydrophobic faces of single crystals of a series of pairs of racemic and chiral-resolved hydrophobic alpha-amino acids were used as a substrate, onto which water vapor has been cooled to freezing. The morphologies and molecular packing arrangements within each crystal pair are similar but only one of each pair exhibits a polar axis, parallel to the hydrophobic face exposed to water. Those crystals that have a polar axis induce a freezing point higher by 4 degrees to 5 degrees C than the corresponding crystals that do not have a polar axis. The results are interpreted in terms of an electric field mechanism that helps align the water molecules into ice-like clusters en route to crystallization.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Crystal Polarity: A Window on Ice Nucleation.
J. M. McBride (1992)
Science 256, 814
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)