Ian B. Smith studied oriented chemical transformations in manganese-containing solids with L. S. Dent Glasser. Their 1968 paper lists both authors in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen. Its subject connects chemical reactions with crystal orientation: the arrangement of a product can retain a reproducible relationship to the starting material even when the material's composition changes.[ref]
Oriented transformations in the system MnO-O-H2O by Lesley S. Dent Glasser and Ian B. Smith. Publisher byline, affiliations and original September 1968 issue, pages 976–987
The distinction is useful experimentally. Identifying which substance formed answers a different question from identifying how its crystal lattice is oriented relative to the original crystal. An orientation relationship can constrain a proposed reaction mechanism beyond what chemical composition alone establishes.
Where their observations could be interpreted, Smith and Dent Glasser related the orientations to the oxygen framework and substantial migration of manganese. They also reported unexplained changes in crystallographic symmetry. Their work thus illustrates how structural observations can support a mechanism while leaving particular transformations unresolved.[ref]
Oriented transformations in the system MnO-O-H2O by Lesley S. Dent Glasser and Ian B. Smith. Summary: oxygen framework, manganese migration and explicitly unexplained symmetry changes
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