Nanoscale Transforming Mineral Phases in Fresh Nacre [electronic resource].

Published: Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences, 2015.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Physical Description: pages 13,325-13,333 : digital, PDF file
Additional Creators: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences, National Science Foundation (U.S.), Harvard University, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information

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Summary

Nacre, or mother-of-pearl, the iridescent inner layer of many mollusk shells, is a biomineral lamellar composite of aragonite (CaCO₃) and organic sheets. Biomineralization frequently occurs via transient amorphous precursor phases, crystallizing into the final stable biomineral. In nacre, despite extensive attempts, amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precursors have remained elusive. They were inferred from non-nacre-forming larval shells, or from a residue of amorphous material surrounding mature gastropod nacre tablets, and have only once been observed in bivalve nacre. Here we present the first direct observation of ACC precursors to nacre formation, obtained from the growth front of nacre in gastropod shells from red abalone (Haliotis rufescens), using synchrotron spectromicroscopy. Surprisingly, the abalone nacre data show the same ACC phases that are precursors to calcite (CaCO₃) formation in sea urchin spicules, and not proto-aragonite or poorly crystalline aragonite (pAra), as expected for aragonitic nacre. In contrast, we find pAra in coral.

Report Numbers

E 1.99:1378600

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Note

Published through SciTech Connect.
09/24/2015.
"ark:/13030/qt5j71h6rv"
Journal of the American Chemical Society 137 41 ISSN 0002-7863 AM
Ross T. DeVol; Chang-Yu Sun; Matthew A. Marcus; Susan N. Coppersmith; Satish C. B. Myneni; Pupa U. P. A. Gilbert.
US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF)

Funding Information

FG02-07ER15899
AC02-05CH11231
DMR-1105167
BSF-2010065

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