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Taking Advantage of Disorder: Amorphous Calcium Carbonate and Its Roles in Biomineralization
Author(s) -
Addadi L.,
Raz S.,
Weiner S.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.200300381
Subject(s) - amorphous calcium carbonate , biomineralization , aragonite , calcium carbonate , calcite , materials science , amorphous solid , carbonate , calcium , chemical engineering , mineralogy , chemistry , crystallography , metallurgy , composite material , engineering
Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) in its pure form is highly unstable, yet some organisms produce stable ACC, and cases are known in which ACC functions as a transient precursor of more stable crystalline aragonite or calcite. Studies of biogenic ACC show that there are significant structural differences, including the observation that the stable forms are hydrated whereas the transient forms are not. The many different ways in which ACC can be formed in vitro shed light on the possible mechanisms involved in stabilization, destabilization, and transformation of ACC into crystalline forms of calcium carbonate. We show here that ACC is a fascinating form of calcium carbonate that may well be of much interest to materials science and biomineralization.