Growth of large single crystals of stearic acid from solution

The growing of large single crystals of stearic acid (CH₃(CH₂)₁₆COOH), one of the saturated fatty acids, from organic solutions is reported. There are two parts in this experimental investigation; (1) to clarify the relationship between polymorphism of stearic acid having three modifications, namely, the A-form (orthorhombic), the B- and C-forms (monoclinic) and the growth conditions in the case of solution growth, because this complicated relationship has apparently made it very difficult to obtain large single crystals, (2) to produce large single crystals of stearic acid under the optimum growth conditions according to part (1). As a result large single crystals of stearic acid more than 8 × 8 mm² in area of the B- and C-modifications were successfully obtained. The values of long spacing, the crystal habit and the cleavage plane are also reported.