Sucrose crystal growth. III. The relative growth rates of faces and their effect on sucrose crystal shape

Abstract

Graphical projections of sucrose crystal structure along the three principal crystallographic axes are presented. The packing of sucrose molecules at crystal surfaces shown by these projections is important in determining the relative growth rates of the various faces and the manner in which these are influenced by impurities. Relative growth rates of eight principal forms of the sucrose crystal in pure sucrose solutions are compared with those in the presence of impurities. This shows that the dominant factor in the influence of impurities on the relative growth rates of the faces of the sucrose crystal, and the concomitant effect on sucrose crystal shape, is the stereospecific adsorption of these impurities at kink sites on the growing crystal surface.