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The Structure of Glycine Dihydrate: Implications for the Crystallization of Glycine from Solution and Its Structure in Outer Space
Author(s) -
Xu Wenqian,
Zhu Qiang,
Hu Chunhua Tony
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201610977
Subject(s) - glycine , crystallization , crystallography , chemistry , crystal structure , phase (matter) , amino acid , materials science , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Glycine, the simplest amino acid, is also the most polymorphous. Herein, we report the structure determination of a long unknown phase of glycine, which was first reported by Pyne and Suryanarayanan in 2001. To date, this phase has only been prepared at 208 K as nanocrystals within ice. Through computational crystal‐structure prediction and powder X‐ray diffraction methods, we identified this elusive phase as glycine dihydrate (GDH), representing the first report on the structure of a hydrated glycine structure. The structure of GDH has important implications for the state of glycine in aqueous solution and the mechanisms of glycine crystallization. GDH may also be the form of glycine that comes to Earth from extraterrestrial sources.