Conformational Interconversion Kinetics, Boundary Layer Transport, and Crystal Growth Impedance

Several experiments and computational reports suggest that conformational interconversion kinetics can impede crystal growth. In this work, we model the separate conformer concentrations accounting for their diffusion through the boundary layer, kinetics of conformer interconversion, and kinetics of incorporation at the crystal surface. We solve the equations in terms of dimensionless parameters to reveal when conformational interconversion kinetics will cause depletion of the growth conformer in the boundary layer and how severely this depletion will impede growth. We use the results to assess the impact of conformer interconversion kinetics in several earlier experimental and computational reports.