| Abstract
| - The crystallization of calcium oxalate in aqueous solutions of a double-hydrophilic blockcopolymer poly(ethyleneglycol)-block-poly(methacrylic acid) (PEG-b-PMAA) has been investigated, focusing on morphological control of the calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD) crystals.It has been shown that with increasing polymer concentration, the morphology of the obtainedCOD crystals gradually changed from tetragonal bipyramids dominated by the {101} facesto rodlike tetragonal prisms dominated by the {100} faces, which is a morphology adoptedby some plant COD crystals but not obtained in vitro previously. The concentration of calciumoxalate and the [Ca2+]/[C2O42-] ratio were also found to show considerable effects on themorphology of the obtained COD crystals. Seed growth experiments further demonstratedthe drastic effect of the polymer on the COD crystal morphology. This effect was preliminarilydiscussed in terms of possible structural correlation between the short PMAA chain of thepolymer and the COD {100} planes.
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