posted on 2024-02-07, 09:29authored byChuang Liu, Wenjing Zhang, Haipeng Liu
Acidic
macromolecules are considered to be critical to calcium
carbonate formation in organisms and have been chosen as a model chemical
for modifying biomineralization. Here, this view is challenged, and
it is found that low-charge amino acid threonine (Thr) and its polymer
poly-Thr can accelerate calcium carbonate formation by increasing
nucleation. In contrast to aspartic acid (Asp) and poly-Asp, Thr and
poly-Thr did not affect the morphology of product crystals but accelerated
the formation of crystal nucleation rapidly. This effect may be partially
attributed to the negative charges of these chemicals that interact
with calcium. This finding provides novel insights into the mechanisms
of biomineralization that involve diverse chemistry control not limited
to acidic macromolecules and may inspire the synthesis of calcium
carbonate in a short time.