TY - JOUR

T1 - Structural complexity and crystallization

T2 - the Ostwald sequence of phases in the Cu2(OH)3Cl system (botallackite–atacamite–clinoatacamite)

AU - Krivovichev, Sergey V.

AU - Hawthorne, Frank C.

AU - Williams, Peter A.

PY - 2017/2/1

Y1 - 2017/2/1

N2 - Analysis of the evolution of structural complexity of the Cu2(OH)3Cl polymorphs along the botallackite–atacamite–clinoatacamite Ostwald cascade of phases from the viewpoint of Shannon information-based complexity parameters shows that structural information increases during the transition from less stable to more stable phases. Among the three polymorphs, botallackite is the simplest, atacamite is intermediate, and clinoatacamite is the most complex. This agrees well with the Goldsmith’s simplexity rule and shows that complexity is a physically important parameter that characterizes crystallization in complex chemical systems. Consideration of the crystal structures of the Cu2(OH)3Cl polymorphs in terms of their Cu–Cl arrays shows that transformation between the phases involves breaking and formation of chemical bonds and therefore has a reconstructive character.

AB - Analysis of the evolution of structural complexity of the Cu2(OH)3Cl polymorphs along the botallackite–atacamite–clinoatacamite Ostwald cascade of phases from the viewpoint of Shannon information-based complexity parameters shows that structural information increases during the transition from less stable to more stable phases. Among the three polymorphs, botallackite is the simplest, atacamite is intermediate, and clinoatacamite is the most complex. This agrees well with the Goldsmith’s simplexity rule and shows that complexity is a physically important parameter that characterizes crystallization in complex chemical systems. Consideration of the crystal structures of the Cu2(OH)3Cl polymorphs in terms of their Cu–Cl arrays shows that transformation between the phases involves breaking and formation of chemical bonds and therefore has a reconstructive character.

KW - Atacamite

KW - Botallackite

KW - Clinoatacamite

KW - Crystal structure

KW - Crystallization

KW - Metastability

KW - Mineral

KW - Ostwald step rule

KW - Structural complexity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976469615&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11224-016-0792-z

DO - 10.1007/s11224-016-0792-z

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84976469615

VL - 28

SP - 153

EP - 159

JO - Structural Chemistry

JF - Structural Chemistry

SN - 1040-0400

IS - 1

ER -