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research article

Confinement-Controlled Crystallization of Guanine

Li, Chuen-Ru  
•
Wittig, Nina Kolln
•
Christensen, Thorbjorn Erik Koppen
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June 12, 2024
Chemistry Of Materials

Guanine crystals are frequently encountered in nature in the beta-polymorph to create structural colors, to enhance the vision of creatures, and for camouflage. Unfortunately, it is challenging to control the crystallization of guanine in aqueous conditions in the laboratory because of its low solubility in water. Here, we crystallize guanine in an aqueous environment under confinement. We employ water-oil-water double emulsions stabilized with a metal-ligand functionalized surfactant as selectively permeable containers to crystallize guanine by dynamically adjusting the pH and guanine concentration. If formed under high osmotic pressures that result in high guanine concentrations within emulsion cores, guanine crystallizes into the anhydrous beta-polymorph with a spherical morphology. In contrast, if crystals form within emulsion cores containing low guanine concentrations, they attain the monohydrate form possessing a needle-like morphology. These findings demonstrate for the first time that the structure and morphology of guanine crystals formed in the laboratory under confinement in an aqueous environment can be tuned by the local guanine concentration and to some extent by the solution pH.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c00550
Web of Science ID

WOS:001247143500001

Author(s)
Li, Chuen-Ru  
•
Wittig, Nina Kolln
•
Christensen, Thorbjorn Erik Koppen
•
Ostergaard, Maja
•
Garrevoet, Jan
•
Birkedal, Henrik
•
Amstad, Esther  
Date Issued

2024-06-12

Publisher

Amer Chemical Soc

Published in
Chemistry Of Materials
Subjects

Physical Sciences

•

Technology

•

Anhydrous Guanine

•

Crystals

•

Copepods

•

Fish

•

Form

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SMAL  
FunderGrant Number

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur F?rderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

EPFL Center for Imaging

MAX IV Laboratory for time on Beamline DanMAX

2018-07152

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Available on Infoscience
July 3, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/209062
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