The effect of additives on synthetic barite crystals, prepared under conditions chosen to mimic those encountered in off-shore oil fields. has been extensively studied. The addition of certain stereochemically related diphosphonates a characteristic morphology change which has been shown to be consistent with a binding model in which the diphosphonate ion replaces two sulfate ions in the (011) surface. A detailed understanding of the recognition processes involved has now led to the rational design of new surface-active molecules with greatly improved efficacy, and a greater appreciation of the factors influencing morphological changes resulting from inhibitor interference.
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Bromley et al. (1993) studied this question.