The Effect of Additives on the Growth of Benzophenone

The effect of impurities on crystal morphology is a challenging problem, since even at low concentrations they can have drastic effects on the final habit. Industrially this causes problems with downstream processes such as filtration, processability and even storage. Conversely, structurally related additive molecules may be introduced to a system in order to mimic the effect of an impurity resulting in a beneficial effect on problematic crystal morphologies.The work presented here considers the design and use of tailor made additives on a nonhydrogen bonded crystal, benzophenone. This compound is typical of many agrochemical materials in that the major intermolecular interactions are of the nondirectional van der Waals type. Using crystal packing analysis a selection of additives has been chosen with the intent of specifically hindering certain directions of crystal growth.From an initial group of nine molecules two additives, 4ABP and 4MBP were found tobe particularly effective, both strongly hindering growth. Measured kinetic data suggests that these additives bind to steps in the growth spirals, drastically slowing growth of specific crystal faces altering the crystal morphology to a needle shape. Through nucleation experiments and product analysis the additives were shown to effect only crystal growth becoming incorporated into the crystal structure.Computational modelling of the binding of additives to the crystal surfaces of benzophenone has been used in an attempt to rationalise the experimental effects. In many cases calculated binding energies were in agreement with experimental observation. However, modified attachment energies did not match well with experimental observations.