The mechanisms by which amorphous intermediates transform into crystalline materials are poorly understood. Currently, attracting enormous interest is the crystallization of amorphous calcium carbonate, a key intermediary in synthetic, biological and environmental systems. Here we attempt to unify many contrasting and apparently contradictory studies by investigating this process in detail. We show that amorphous calcium carbonate can dehydrate before crystallizing, both in solution and in air, while thermal analyses and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance measurements reveal that its water is present in distinct environments. Loss of the final water fraction—comprising less than 15% of the total—then triggers crystallization. The high activation energy of this step suggests that it occurs by partial dissolution/recrystallization, mediated by surface water, and the majority of the particle then crystallizes by a solid-state transformation. Such mechanisms are likely to be widespread in solid-state reactions and their characterization will facilitate greater control over these processes.

We provide evidence that citrate anions bridge between mineral platelets in bone and hypothesize that their presence acts to maintain separate platelets with disordered regions between them rather than gradual transformations into larger, more ordered blocks of mineral. To assess this hypothesis, we take as a model for a citrate bridging between layers of calcium phosphate mineral a double salt octacalcium phosphate citrate (OCPcitrate). We use a combination of multinuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and first principles electronic structure calculations to propose a quantitative structure for this material, in which citrate anions reside in a hydrated layer, bridging between apatitic layers. To assess the relevance of such a structure in native bone mineral, we present for the first time, to our knowledge, 17 O NMR data on bone and compare them with 17 O NMR data for OCP-citrate and other calcium phosphate minerals relevant to bone. The proposed structural model that we deduce from this work for bone mineral is a layered structure with thin apatitic platelets sandwiched between OCP-citrate-like hydrated layers. Such a structure can explain a number of known structural features of bone mineral: the thin, plate-like morphology of mature bone mineral crystals, the presence of significant quantities of strongly bound water molecules, and the relatively high concentration of hydrogen phosphate as well as the maintenance of a disordered region between mineral platelets.NMR crystallography | biomineralization B one is a complex organic-inorganic composite material (1), in which calcium phosphate nanoparticles are held within a primarily collagen protein matrix. The mineral component is a poorly crystalline phase, closely related to hydroxyapatite. The currently accepted model of bone mineral is ∼50-to 150-nmthick stacks of very closely packed apatitic platelets, each of order 2.5-4 nm in thickness (1-4), arranged so that their large (100) faces are parallel to each other and their c axes are strongly ordered (parallel to collagen fibrils) (5). NMR studies show that, in addition to the largely ordered but nonstoichiometric apatitic phase, there is a substantial, highly hydrated, disordered phase containing up to 55% of the bone mineral phosphatic ions (6, 7) but in the form of hydrogen phosphate or phosphate strongly hydrogen-bonded to water rather than apatitic orthophosphate (8). This phase has been assigned as a surface phase, but whether the surface in question is that of individual mineral platelets or the surface of the overall structure formed by a stack of such platelets is not yet clear. There is, however, significant experimental evidence that is not explained by this model as it stands. First, there has never been any observation of an isolated mineral platelet in mature bone, even in preparations in which there have been attempts to disperse the mineral structures (9). This feature suggests that the mineral platelets are not independent structures-indeed, their ordered aggregati...

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is useful to determine molecular structure in tissues grown in vitro only if their fidelity, relative to native tissue, can be established. Here, we use multidimensional NMR spectra of animal and in vitro model tissues as fingerprints of their respective molecular structures, allowing us to compare the intact tissues at atomic length scales. To obtain spectra from animal tissues, we developed a heavy mouse enriched by about 20% in the NMR-active isotopes carbon-13 and nitrogen-15. The resulting spectra allowed us to refine an in vitro model of developing bone and to probe its detailed structure. The identification of an unexpected molecule, poly(adenosine diphosphate ribose), that may be implicated in calcification of the bone matrix, illustrates the analytical power of this approach.

We have prepared mouse fur extensively 13C,15N-labelled in all amino acid types enabling application of 2D solid state NMR techniques which establish covalent and spatial proximities within, and in favorable cases between, residues. 13C double quantum–single quantum correlation and proton driven spin diffusion techniques are particularly useful for resolving certain amino acid types. Unlike 1D experiments on isotopically normal material, the 2D methods allow the chemical shifts of entire spin systems of numerous residue types to be determined, particularly those with one or more distinctively shifted atoms such as Gly, Ser, Thr, Tyr, Phe, Val, Leu, Ile and Pro. Also the partial resolution of the amide signals into two signal envelopes comprising of α-helical, and β-sheet/random coil components, enables resolution of otherwise overlapped α-carbon signals into two distinct cross peak families corresponding to these respective secondary structural regions. The increase in resolution conferred by extensive labelling offers new opportunities to study the chemical fate and structural environments of specific atom and amino acid types under the influence of commercial processes, and therapeutic or cosmetic treatments.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10858-016-0056-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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