Calcium Carbonate Polyamorphism and Its Role in Biomineralization: How Many Amorphous Calcium Carbonates Are There?

Abstract

Although the polymorphism of calcium carbonate is well known, and its polymorphs-calcite, aragonite, and vaterite-have been highly studied in the context of biomineralization, polyamorphism is a much more recently discovered phenomenon, and the existence of more than one amorphous phase of calcium carbonate in biominerals has only very recently been understood. Here we summarize what is known about polyamorphism in calcium carbonate as well as what is under- stood about the role of amorphous calcium carbonate in biominerals. We show that consideration of the amorphous forms of calcium carbonate within the physical notion of polyamorphism leads to new insights when it comes to the mechanisms by which polymorphic structures can evolve in the first place. This not only has implications for our understanding of biomineralization, but also of the means by which crystallization may be controlled in medical, pharmaceutical, and industrial contexts.

References in corpus (7)

• Generic mechanism for generating a liquid-liquid phase transition
• Ice structures, patterns, and processes: A view across the ice-fields
• Structural Order for One-Scale and Two-Scale Potentials
• Isotropic soft-core potentials with two characteristic length scales and anomalous behaviour
• Pressure-induced amorphization and polyamorphism in one-dimensional single crystal TiO2 nanomaterials
• Beyond crystals: the dialectic of materials and information
• On the polyamorphism of fullerite-based orientational glasses

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Density of Nanometrically Thin Amorphous Films Varies by Thickness
• Controllable synthesis of calcium carbonate with different geometry: comprehensive analysis of particles formation, their cellular uptake and biocompatibility
• Competing structures in a minimal double-well potential model of condensed matter