A novel catalytic method for the synthesis of spherical aragonite nanoparticles from cockle shells

Abstract

For the first time, we report here a novel top down catalytic approach for the synthesis of aragonite nanoparticles with spherical morphology from cockleshells. Cockle shell is a natural reservoir of aragonite which is a biogenic polymorph of calcium carbonate. Aragonite polymorph is widely used in the repair of fractured bone, development of advanced drug delivery systems, and tissue scaffolds. The method involves an easily performable and lowcost mechanical stirring of the micron-sized cockle shell powders in presence of a nontoxic biomineralization catalyst, dodecyl dimethyl betaine (BS-12). It produces spherical shaped aragonite nanoparticles of 35 ± 5 nm in diameter with a good reproducibility and without any additional impurities at room temperature. The findings were verified with a variable pressure scanning electron microscopy (VPSEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM),Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA).The reproducibility, low-cost and simplicity of the method suggested its potential applications in large scale synthesis of aragonite nanoparticles with spherical morphology in an industrial set up.

Development of nanoantibiotic delivery system using cockle shell-derived aragonite nanoparticles for treatment of osteomyelitis

“…11 The crystallinity phases of the samples were determined using diffraction angles from 5° to 70°, and the experiment was conducted at 37°C.…”

“…All the diffraction spectra of the nanoparticles conform with the reference spectra (JCPDS file no 00-041-1475) for aragonite polymorph of calcium carbonate. 11 The high intensity of the peaks was attributed to the high crystallinity of the nanoparticles. The XRD patterns of VANP were very much similar to the naked nanoparticles; thus, we concluded that the crystallinity of the ANP was maintained after loading with vancomycin.…”

“…Nonetheless, the design of a biodegradable LADS using novel therapeutic agents, such as nanoantibiotics, is still regarded as a standard therapeutic option in osteomyelitis. 8,10,11 Nanoantibiotics have been defined as nanomaterials that either show antimicrobial activity by themselves or elevate the effectiveness and safety of antibiotics administration. 10 Cockle shells (Anadara granosa) are naturally composed of pure aragonite calcium carbonate 12 and thus are a rich source of biogenic aragonite.…”

“…Aragonite calcium carbonate is biocompatible and has high prospective performance in the development of advanced drug delivery system and scaffold for bone replacement and tissue engineering. 11,13 In this study, a low-cost, facile method was used to design a nanoantibiotic of aragonite nanoparticles (ANPs) from cockle shells by synthesizing and incorporating the nanoparticles with vancomycin. The vancomycin-loaded aragonite nanoparticles (VANPs) were characterized by physicochemical and biological (antibacterial and biocompatibility) analyses.…”

Recycling of shell wastes into nanosized calcium carbonate powders with different phase compositions

“…As a case in point, an eco-friendly and large-scale approach was applied to prepare high purity CaCO 3 , in which the mollusk shell was calcined in the propane atmosphere to remove the organic matters (Barros et al, 2009). Islam et al (2013aIslam et al ( , 2013b described a catalytic method for the synthesis of aragonite nanoparticles from cockle shells, where dodecyldimethyl betaine was used as a biomineralization catalyst. Hydroxy-apatite powders applicable in the bone tissue engineering could also be prepared from shell wastes (Wu et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2011).…”