Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Fluid Phase Equilibria

Determination of the crystallization thermodynamics and kinetics of L-tryptophan in alcohols - water system

Chen, Q.[Qiaoli], Wang, J.[Jingkang], Bao, Y.[Ying]
Fluid Phase Equilib. 2012, 313, 182-189
ABSTRACT
Aimed at exploring new solvents for the crystallization of L-tryptophan, the solubility and metastable zone of L-tryptophan in binary solvents of methanol - water, ethanol - water and 1-propanol - water were measured using a laser method. It is demonstrated that the dielectric constant of the solvent significantly affects the solubility of L-tryptophan. Furthermore, results indicate that 1-propanol water is a better solvent system from which regular and perfect crystals can be obtained. The induction time of L-tryptophan was measured to analyze the nucleation and growth mechanism. It is found that homogeneous nucleation is inclined to occur at high supersaturation while heterogeneous nucleation would be dominant at low supersaturation. The growth mechanism of L-tryptophan follows the continuous mode.
Compounds
# Formula Name
1 CH4O methanol
2 C11H12N2O2 L-tryptophan
3 H2O water
4 C2H6O ethanol
5 C3H8O propan-1-ol
Datasets
The table above is generated from the ThermoML associated json file (link above). POMD and RXND refer to PureOrMixture and Reaction Datasets. The compound numbers are included in properties, variables, and phases, if specificied; the numbers refer to the table of compounds on the left.
Type Compound-# Property Variable Constraint Phase Method #Points
  • POMD
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Mole fraction - 2 ; Liquid
  • Temperature, K; Liquid
  • Solvent: Mole fraction - 1; Liquid
  • Pressure, kPa; Liquid
  • Liquid
  • Crystal - 2
  • Static-analytic method
  • 42
  • POMD
  • 4
  • 2
  • 3
  • Mole fraction - 2 ; Liquid
  • Temperature, K; Liquid
  • Solvent: Mole fraction - 4; Liquid
  • Pressure, kPa; Liquid
  • Liquid
  • Crystal - 2
  • Static-analytic method
  • 43
  • POMD
  • 5
  • 2
  • 3
  • Mole fraction - 2 ; Liquid
  • Temperature, K; Liquid
  • Solvent: Mole fraction - 5; Liquid
  • Pressure, kPa; Liquid
  • Liquid
  • Crystal - 2
  • Static-analytic method
  • 45