Exploring the Nucleation of Biominerals: When Hard Rocks Meet Soft Matter

Paolo Raiteri, Raffaella Demichelis, Wen Zhao, Kasia Koziara, Alicia Schuitemaker and Julian D. Gale

Curtin Institute for Computation/The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Department of Chemistry, Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845

The nucleation of minerals from ions in aqueous solution underpins important processes from biomineralisation to scale formation and carbon sequestration. All this begins with ion pairing, but what happens next is still a matter that is hotly debated for systems such as calcium carbonate, where the classical nature of nucleation has been called into question [1,2,3]. Therefore it is vital to use both experiment and simulation to fill in the missing details as to how crystalline minerals form. In this presentation we will examine the possible pathways by which two common biominerals, calcium carbonate and calcium oxalate, nucleate in order to try to explain how proteins may influence and control this process. Based on simulation results it will be demonstrated that hard rocks and soft matter are perhaps not as different as they might seem during their earlier stages of formation.

References:

[1] D. Gebauer, A. Völkel, H. Cölfen, Science, 322, 1819 (2008).

[2] R. Demichelis, P. Raiteri, J.D. Gale, D. Quigley, D. Gebauer, Nature Comm., 2, 590 (2011).

[3] A.F. Wallace, L.O. Hedges, A. Fernandez-Martinez, P. Raiteri, J.D. Gale, G.A. Waychunas, S. Whitelam, J.F. Banfield and J.J. De Yoreo, Science, 341, 885-889 (2013)