Biologically Controlled Morphology and Twinning in Guanine Crystals.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
; 56(32): 9420-9424, 2017 08 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28626984
ABSTRACT
Guanine crystals are widely used in nature as components of multilayer reflectors. Guanine-based reflective systems found in the copepod cuticle and in the mirror of the scallop eye are unique in that the multilayered reflectors are tiled to form a contiguous packed array. In the copepod cuticle, hexagonal crystals are closely packed to produce brilliant colors. In the scallop eye, square crystals are tiled to obtain an image-forming reflecting mirror. The tiles are about 1â
µm in size and 70â
nm thick. According to analysis of their electron diffraction patterns, the hexagon and square tiles are not single crystals. Rather, each tile type is a composite of what appears to be three crystalline domains differently oriented and stacked onto one another, achieved through a twice-repeated twinning about their ⟨011⟩ and ⟨021⟩ crystal axes, respectively. By these means, the monoclinic guanine crystal mimics higher symmetry hexagonal and tetragonal structures to achieve unique morphologies.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Israel