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Crystals
Special Issues
Crystal Growth in Gels
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Crystal Growth in Gels

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystal Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2019)

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Silvia Rizzato

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, Milano, Italy
Interests: molecular crystallography; crystal growth; crystal engineering; intermolecular interactions crystal forms; polymorphism
Prof. Dr. Leonardo Lo Presti

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Chemistry Department, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Golgi 19, 20133 Milano, Italy
Interests: crystallography; X-ray diffraction; materials science; molecular dynamics; quantum chemistry; molecular recognition
Prof. Dr. Massimo Moret

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Via Cozzi 55, Milano, Italy
Interests: crystal growth; polymorphism; prediction of crystal morphology; X-ray crystallography; intermolecular interactions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is well known that crystal growth in gel media represents an alternative and powerful method to grow high-quality crystals with different chemical natures (sparingly soluble inorganic salts, coordination polymers, proteins), as well as an efficient way to optimize growth conditions. Gelification of the growth solutions, in fact, favors a diffusive mass transport of the solutes by suppression of the convection currents, prevents sedimentation, and guarantees an effective control of nucleation sites and density.

More recently, other important effects of the gel matrix have been dealt with and studied; among them:

  • modification of macro and micro-morphology of crystals;
  • polymorph control;
  • synthesis of new crystalline phases;
  • phenomena of gel network incorporation inside the crystals to yield composite crystalline materials.

Moreover, an increasing interest has been addressed towards the application of the gel method in a wide range of organic solvents by using specific gelators or gel-like systems.

As experts in the field, we intend to invite researchers to submit their papers to this Special Issue of Crystals dedicated to “Crystal Growth in Gels”. Manuscripts can be related to theoretical and/or experimental aspects of crystallization in gel media. For example, contributions discussing advanced experimental setups, nucleation and growth kinetics, polymorphsim, structure-properties relationships, gel-mediated synthesis of novel materials, intermolecular recognition and related energetic/thermodynamic aspects, surface properties, and computational simulations, will be welcome. See the keyword list below for further information on the covered topics.

Prof. Dr. Silvia Rizzato
Dr. Leonardo Lo Presti
Prof. Dr. Massimo Moret
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Gel techniques
  • Crystallization of biological macromolecules in gels and gel-like systems
  • Crystallization of advanced materials in gel
  • Nucleation control and growth kinetics in gels
  • Mass transport mechanisms and supersaturation in gel media
  • Periodic precipitation phenomena
  • Metastable phase formation and polymorphs selection in gels
  • Gel incorporation phenomena and generation of biomimetic composite materials
  • Gel dependent habit and morphological changes
  • Gelators for crystal growth in organic solvents

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 3878 KiB  
Article
Phase Stability and Morphology of Gel Grown Crystals: The Case of CdCl2-bpp Polymeric System
by Leonardo Lo Presti, Massimo Moret and Silvia Rizzato
Crystals 2019, 9(7), 363; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst9070363 - 16 Jul 2019
Viewed by 3256
Abstract
A phenomenological study is carried out on a complex two-component diffusion-reacting system in gel, that is, the Cd-1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane (Cd-bpp) coordination polymer. The latter can exist in three solid forms, which exploit a 1:1 correspondence among the Cd/bpp ratio, the crystal structure and [...] Read more.
A phenomenological study is carried out on a complex two-component diffusion-reacting system in gel, that is, the Cd-1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane (Cd-bpp) coordination polymer. The latter can exist in three solid forms, which exploit a 1:1 correspondence among the Cd/bpp ratio, the crystal structure and the crystal morphology (1/2: bipyramids; 2/3: needles; 1/3: plates). The aim was to clarify the role of key physicochemical variables (reactant concentrations, composition of the solvent and density of the transport medium) in determining the chemical nature and the morphology of the final crystallization products. The gel method was tested in a variety of different crystallization configurations, including single and double diffusion techniques. The density of the gel primarily affects the morphology of the synthesized crystals, with denser media favouring the needle-like 2/3 Cd-bpp species and diluted ones the 1/2 Cd-bpp bipyramidal one. However, higher densities of the gel are generally associated to strained crystals. The solvent composition is also important, as for example the 1/2 Cd-bpp bipyramids require at least a minimum amount of ethanol to appear. We demonstrated that in gel the strict “equality” stoichiometric criteria for metal-to-ligand ratios can be sometimes eluded, as non–equilibrium concentrations can be locally attained. In this respect, the crystallization geometry was proven to act as a key tool to influence the crystallization output, as it determines the direction and magnitude of the concentration gradients. Finally, the use of U tubes to perform one-pot screenings of a large part of the crystallization space is discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crystal Growth in Gels)
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12 pages, 1496 KiB  
Article
Struvite Grown in Gel, Its Crystal Structure at 90 K and Thermoanalytical Study
by Jolanta Prywer, Lesław Sieroń and Agnieszka Czylkowska
Crystals 2019, 9(2), 89; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst9020089 - 08 Feb 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7324
Abstract
In this article, we report the crystallization of struvite in sodium metasilicate gel by single diffusion gel growth technique. The obtained crystals have a very rich morphology displaying 18 faces. In this study, the habit and morphology of the obtained struvite crystals are [...] Read more.
In this article, we report the crystallization of struvite in sodium metasilicate gel by single diffusion gel growth technique. The obtained crystals have a very rich morphology displaying 18 faces. In this study, the habit and morphology of the obtained struvite crystals are analyzed. The crystals were examined and identified as pure struvite by single X-ray diffraction (XRD). The orthorhombic polar noncentrosymmetric space group Pmn21 was identified. The structure of the crystal was determined at a temperature of 90 K. Our research indicates a lack of polymorphism, resulting from the temperature lowering to 90 K, which has not been previously reported. The determined unit cell parameters are as follows a = 6.9650(2) Å, b = 6.1165(2) Å, c = 11.2056(3) Å. The structure of struvite is presented here with a residual factor R1 = 1.2% at 0.80 Å resolution. We also present thermoanalytical study of struvite using thermal analysis techniques such as thermogravimetry (TG), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crystal Growth in Gels)
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Review

Jump to: Research

23 pages, 4485 KiB  
Review
Crystal Growth in Gels from the Mechanisms of Crystal Growth to Control of Polymorphism: New Trends on Theoretical and Experimental Aspects
by Omar Velásquez-González, Camila Campos-Escamilla, Andrea Flores-Ibarra, Nuria Esturau-Escofet, Roberto Arreguin-Espinosa, Vivian Stojanoff, Mayra Cuéllar-Cruz and Abel Moreno
Crystals 2019, 9(9), 443; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cryst9090443 - 26 Aug 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 8179
Abstract
A gel can be considered to be a two-phase (liquid and solid) system, which lacks flow once it reaches a stationary state. The solid phase is usually a tridimensional polymeric mesh, while the liquid phase is usually found in three forms: contained in [...] Read more.
A gel can be considered to be a two-phase (liquid and solid) system, which lacks flow once it reaches a stationary state. The solid phase is usually a tridimensional polymeric mesh, while the liquid phase is usually found in three forms: contained in great cavities, retained in the capillary pores between micelles, or adsorbed on the surface of a micelle. The influence of the use of gels in crystal growth is diverse and depends on the type of gel being used. A decrease in solubility of any solute in the liquid may occur if the solvent interacts extensively with the polymeric section, hence, the nucleation in gels in these cases apparently occurs at relatively low supersaturations. However, if the pore size is small enough, there is a possibility that a higher supersaturation is needed, due to the compartmentalization of solvents. Finally, this may also represent an effect in the diffusion of substances. This review is divided into three main parts; the first evaluates the theory and practice used for the obtainment of polymorphs. The second part describes the use of gels into crystallogenesis of different substances. The last part is related to the particularities of protein crystal polymorphism, as well as modern trends in gel growth for high-resolution X-ray crystallography. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Crystal Growth in Gels)
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