Solvent-Mediated Enhancement of Additive-Controlled Crystallization

Soluble additives are widely used to control crystallization processes, modifying the morphologies, sizes, polymorphs, and physical properties of product crystals. Here, a simple versatile strategy is shown significantly enhance potency soluble additives, ranging from ions amino acids large dye molecules, enabling them be effective even at low concentrations. Addition small amounts miscible organic co-solvents an aqueous solution can yield enhanced morphological changes order magnitude increase additive incorporation within single crystals─a level that cannot achieved in pure solutions any concentration. The generality this demonstrated by application crystals calcium carbonate, manganese strontium sulfate, with more pronounced effect observed for lower dielectric constants polarities, indicating general underlying mechanism alters water activity. This work increases understanding additive/crystal interactions may see great industrial-scale crystal synthesis.