Self‐assembled crystalline monolayers and multilayers of n‐alkanes on the water surface*

Abstract

The induced formation of multilayer crystallites at liquid interfaces provides a direct means of monitoring the dynamics of crystal nucleation and of elucidating the effect of molecular inhibitors on polymorphism and crystal growth. The spontaneous formation of crystalline multilayers of n ‐alkanes spread from solution onto the water interface are described and X‐ray structural investigations discussed which indicate that the full crystal symmetry is present even in layers that are only a few unit cells thick.