Update on self-assembly in Mepivacaine

(and how to do this at home)

the last structure that I recorded overnight was this one. Darkfield x200 magnification with digital filter:

Unfortunately, I focussed on the centre of the structure. I should know by now that often the action happens in on one or other of the corners and it would have been good to have captured the action in the bottom left corner which went from this:

to this:

It certainly looks ready to plug in now doesn’t it?

Shame I didn’t record it or get the contrast better in the first shot but hey I will see what I can make next!

The 20 sec video edit that I had on the last post can be downloaded from the link below (click on the picture) for anybody who would like to share it around…

https://drive.proton.me/urls/NZ7E6ARW3M#o9mVDNpKCBW9

I spent a couple of hours discussing the recent images and learnings with Mat Taylor this morning and we are going to record a conversation on Monday which I will make available on my website.

I really think that everybody interested should try making these crystals. Here is what I suggest. Most of this can be seen at relatively low magnification and it is more impressive in darkfield but the same process can be studied in bright field.

1. obtain some local anaesthetic - ebay or amazon can help. I suggest a Septodont product.

2. purchase a small quantity of insulin syringes

3. Draw up 2 ml into a syringe.

4. place a small drop off the end of the needle onto the slide.

My observations:

1. initially the drop will be visible on the slide - this image is 40x, dark field. The drops that are visible below are on the slide and not in the liquid. With this preparation there do not seem to be any visible dots.

this will dry out over the next few minutes

The place that the reaction will start can be predicated by the presence of a colour change.

The reaction starting:

progressing:

joining in the middle:

condensing:

crystallising:

adding a further drop will repeat the process. Not the release of particles and material from the crystal

Select a crystal that is black and flat and observe this over the next 12 hours:

Observe this over the next 24 hours and you will, in my experience, observe an increase in complexity.

I have been trying a few different filters to try and improve the appearance and contrast.

I look forward to having a number of people make these and comments about what we are observing here.

David