| STRUCTURE |
Crystal reveals dual personality X-ray diffraction studies of crystals of zinc saccharate show that its structure consists of a 3-D network with two distinct kinds of parallel channels. One type is hydrophilic and the other hydrophobic, according to Richard Robson, chemistry professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and coworkers [Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 42, 1848 (2003)]. "The existence of two types of channels with very different characteristics in the same network offers prospects of the simultaneous introduction of two different species into different channels: for example, ions of opposite charge, such as F– into the hydrophilic channels and a range of cations into the hydrophobic channels," the researchers write. D-Saccharic acid is the polyhydroxydicarboxylic acid derived from D-glucose. In the zinc saccharate crystal, certain carboxylate and hydroxyl oxygens are coordinated to zinc atoms; the others project into the hydrophilic channels. The walls of the hydrophobic channels, in contrast, are surrounded by C–H bonds. The channels are isolated from each other: I2 vapor, for example, penetrates the hydrophobic but not the hydrophilic channels. |
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