Diffusion of Water in a Nonporous Hydrophobic Crystal

Burrowing water: The apohost phase of a substituted hydrophobic calixarene, grown by sublimation, forms lattice voids but not channels. Exposure of the crystals to liquid water results in a single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transformation during which water molecules become embedded in the lattice voids (see picture); thus the classical view of diffusion might not be appropriate at the atomic scale.