Crystals - Callus remover, Compoun W etc Methods

[RobBerdan]

I have posted another article on Crystals of amino acids, medicines, callus remover, compound W etc. I also tried several different solvents and describe my techniques.
I think this article might be of interest to anyone wanting to photograph crystals with polarized light microscopy.

https://www.canadiannaturephotographer. ... ight2.html

RB

[Greg Howald]

Absolutely outstanding! My brother is coming to visit next week. I will love doing this with him.
Greg

[Greg Howald]

May I ask what solvents you used to create these crystals?
Greg

[richbart]

B alinine and L glutamate are my favorite to take pictures of. I tried callous remover, but in the past probably wasn’t getting it thin enough. I’ll try the cover slip spreading method. I’ve thought about just diluting with more diethyl ether.

[RobBerdan]

Hi the solvent used for amino acids was Deionized water and 95% Ethanol (Everclear from the Liquor store) in a ratio of 1:1 to 1:4. You need both water and ethanol. Other alcohols did not work for me.

Only the callus remover needs to be spread out thinly, the amino acids will do this by themselves. Also both crystals require the use of a full wave retardation plate to see colours. The plates are available on E-bay and from Edmund optics (links provided in the article). You can also use commercial full wave 550nm retardation plates. Sometimes a plastic CD cover, Petri dish cover, and some types of plastic package wrapping will also work as a wave plate, but they are not as good as one you purchase in my opinion.

For amino acids Alanine and Glutamine dissolve and mix in water: ethanol 1:1 to 1:4 place on a slide on a hot plate for about 1 minute (low heat) until you see crystals around the edge of the drop. Take the slide off, I put it on a small porcelain plate (bathroom tile from the hardware store) for about 30 seconds, then put it back on the hot plate for about 30 seconds to a minute. The crystals around the edge of the drop act as seeds - once the crystals start to form you can remove the slide and view in the microscope with a retardation plate between the poaririzers - or you will only see black and white crystals form.

Callus remover or Compund W wart remover needs to be spread out thinly - use a second slide on top and pull them apart. Altnernatively add any kind of alcohol or acetone to dilute and spread the callus remover.

Hope this helps. With amino acids it may take sever trys to get them to work, but once they do you will have plenty of crystals to examine and photograph.
Cheers
RB

[Greg Howald]

Thanks much. I will have a ball.

[richbart]

I’ve used mica as a retarder. It works well, but limits the colors you see.

[MichaelG.]

Astonishingly beautiful images, Rob … Thanks for sharing them and your methodology.

MichaelG.

[Greg Howald]

We did it!!!

Using amino acids and callus remover my brother and I worked together today and accomplished great results with crystallization. I would share photos but that needs to wait. We were at it for eight hours.
Greg