Water in the formation of biogenic minerals: peeling away the hydration layers.

ABSTRACT: Minerals of biogenic origin form and crystallize from aqueous environments at ambient temperatures and pressures. The in vivo environment either intracellular or intercellular, contains many components that modulate both the activity of the ions which associate to form the mineral, as well as the activity and structure of the crowded water. Most of the studies about the mechanism of mineralization, that is, the detailed pathways by which the mineral ions proceed from solution to crystal state, have been carried out in relatively dilute solutions and clean solutions. These studies have considered both thermodynamic and kinetic controls. Most have not considered the water itself. Is the water a passive bystander, or is it intimately a participant in the mineral ion densification reaction? A

SUBMITTER: Dorvee JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3938164 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature