Chiral interaction and stochastic kinetics in stirred crystallization of amino acids

Abstract

A study of chirally selective interaction in the stirred crystallization of glutamic acid and lysine is presented. The crystallization of S-glutamic acid is influenced by the presence of S-lysine but not R-lysine. Crystal nuclei in stirred systems are produced due to secondary nucleation. Secondary nucleation is an autocatalytic process in which a crystal produces secondary nuclei due to fluid motion, and due to crystal stirrer and crystal-crystal collisions. As a result of this autocatalysis, small fluctuations in the nucleation rates are amplified and the kinetics show a marked stochastic behavior. We investigate the stochastic behavior in detail and propose a kinetic mechanism that explains both the increase and the statistical distribution of the crystallization times of S-glutamic acid due to the presence of S-Lysine.