In situ optical spectroscopy of crystallization: One crystal nucleation at a time

Abstract

SignificanceIt is of fundamental importance to establish the microscopic picture of crystal nucleation for both academic and industrial research. Here, we report an in situ time-resolved Raman spectroscopy to study crystallization from solution, one crystal nucleation at a time. The observed dynamics of α-glycine crystallization from water without any additive supports the nonclassical nucleation pathway, where prenucleation aggregates form and convert to a crystal. By the direct comparison of Raman spectrum of the aggregates between the experiment and simulation, we propose the structure of these aggregates as linear hydrogen-bonded networks. We demonstrate the power of studying one nucleation event at a time, which can accelerate the investigation of crystal nucleation by optical spectroscopy.