Langmuir Monolayers Designed for the Oriented Growth of Glycine and Sodium Chloride Crystals at Air/Water Interfaces

Abstract

Oriented growth of crystals of α-glycine and sodium chloride under compressed Langmuir monolayers at air-water interfaces was achieved. For α-glycine, a variety of monolayers containing resolved glycyl head groups and different hydrophobic moieties were used, thus establishing the structural requirements necessary for oriented crystallization. For sodium chloride, monolayers of positive, negative and zwitterionic charge induced crystal nucleation from faces of the type {100}, {110} and {111}, the latter two faces not being naturally occurring.