Abstract:
Various morphologies of two polymorphs of a steroid are observed and correlated to calculated morphologies using the connected net theory. In a previous publication on our model compound, we reported polymorphic epitaxial growth as a result of variations in the supersaturation. Two additional and also unusual types of growth behavior are described in this work: the observation of crystals that have a morphology that does not correspond to its observed polymorph, also called pseudomorphism, and the observation of a particular crystal face on which distinctive faceted pits occurred. The particular kinetic growth behavior of this model compound is explained by the fact that the two polymorphs are partly isostructural and by impurity induced growth hampering.