KINETICS OF CHIRAL-SYMMETRY BREAKING IN CRYSTALLIZATION

Results of our study of the kinetics of stirred crystallization that produces large (greater than 99%) asymmetry are presented. The change of concentration with time as the crystallization progresses is obtained for stirred and unstirred crystallizations. A sharp difference in the two concentration vs time curves, due to secondary nucleation in the stirred system, can be observed. Experimental results are compared with the predictions of a set of stochastic kinetic equations. It is found that the proposed kinetics can quite accurately reproduce the experimental data if it is assumed that secondary nuclei are produced in stirred systems only when the parent crystal reaches a minimum size.