Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2026

On-Chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature
Published on: March 11, 2022
Chiral symmetry breaking during crystallization: an advection-mediated nonlinear autocatalytic process
Julyan H E Cartwright1, Juan Manuel García-Ruiz, Oreste Piro
1Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos, CSIC, E-18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain.
Abstract:
When a chiral chemical compound crystallizes from solution or from its melt, stirring often results in the formation of crystals of just one of the two possible enantiomers, while without fluid advection both enantiomers are formed. We demonstrate with simulations of the dynamics of the system that secondary nucleation is a nonlinear autocatalytic phenomenon that can explain these observations. Furthermore, we present theoretical arguments and experimental results that suggest that at the microscale the mechanism of secondary nucleation is whisker crystal growth and dispersion in the fluid flow.
More Related Videos
06:26Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
09:15Growing Protein Crystals with Distinct Dimensions Using Automated Crystallization Coupled with In Situ Dynamic Light Scattering
Published on: August 14, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Chirality in Nature
Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent – the...
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Recrystallization: Solid–Solution Equilibria
Symmetry Elements in a Crystal
Prochirality