Confinement generates single-crystal aragonite rods at room temperature.

ABSTRACT: The topic of calcite and aragonite polymorphism attracts enormous interest from fields including biomineralization and paleogeochemistry. While aragonite is only slightly less thermodynamically stable than calcite under ambient conditions, it typically only forms as a minor product in additive-free solutions at room temperature. However, aragonite is an abundant biomineral, and certain organisms can selectively generate calcite and aragonite. This fascinating behavior has been the focus of decades of research, where this has been driven by a search for specific organic macromolecules that can generate these polymorphs. However, despite these efforts, we still have a poor understanding of how organisms achieve such selectivity. In this work, we consider an alternative possibility and explor

SUBMITTER: Zeng M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6065038 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature