Short-lived calcium carbonate precursors observed in situ via Bullet-dynamic nuclear polarization.

ABSTRACT: The discovery of (meta)stable pre-nucleation species (PNS) challenges the established nucleation-and-growth paradigm. While stable PNS with long lifetimes are readily accessible experimentally, identifying and characterizing early-stage intermediates with short lifetimes remains challenging. We demonstrate that species with lifetimes ≪ 5 s can be characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy when boosted by 'Bullet' dynamic nuclear polarization (Bullet-DNP). We investigate the previously elusive early-stage prenucleation of calcium carbonates in the highly supersaturated concentration regime, characterizing species that form within milliseconds after the encounter of calcium and carbonate ions and show that ionic pre-nucleation species not only govern the solidification of calci

SUBMITTER: Turhan E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11408677 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature