Observations of the birth of crystals

Alberstein, Robert G.; Tezcan, F. Akif

doi:10.1038/d41586-018-03801-5

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04 April 2018

Observations of the birth of crystals

Different forms of molecular crystals often have distinct properties, which can greatly influence their potential applications. A way of controlling the crystal form of a protein has now been reported.

Robert G. Alberstein ⁰ &
F. Akif Tezcan ¹

Robert G. Alberstein
1. Robert G. Alberstein is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
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F. Akif Tezcan
1. F. Akif Tezcan is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
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The second law of thermodynamics dictates that all things tend towards disorder. Yet molecules and other microscopic particles in liquids frequently arrange themselves into perfectly ordered arrays — crystals — without violating this law. Moreover, a given molecule can often arrange itself into more than one type of array, producing different crystal forms known as polymorphs. These polymorphs can have remarkably different properties despite being composed of the same building blocks. In a paper in Nature, Van Driessche et al.¹ report experimental observations of protein molecules as they begin to assemble into clusters that then evolve into distinct polymorphs. Their findings bring fresh insight to the important processes of crystal formation and growth, and polymorph selection.

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Nature 556, 41-42 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-03801-5

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