Many living organisms contain biominerals and composites with finely tuned properties, reflecting a remarkable level of control over the nucleation, growth and shape of the constituent crystals. Peptides and proteins play an important role in achieving this control. But the general view that organic molecules affect mineralization through stereochemical recognition, where geometrical and chemical constraints dictate their binding to a mineral, seems difficult to reconcile with a mechanistic understanding, where crystallization is controlled by thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Indeed, traditional crystal growth models emphasize the inhibiting effect of so-called 'modifiers' on surface-step growth, rather than stereochemical matching to newly expressed crystal facets. Here we report in situ atomic force microscope observations and molecular modelling studies of calcite growth in the presence of chiral amino acids that reconcile these two seemingly divergent views. We find that enantiomer-specific binding of the amino acids to those surface-step edges that offer the best geometric and chemical fit changes the step-edge free energies, which in turn results in macroscopic crystal shape modifications. Our results emphasize that the mechanism underlying crystal modification through organic molecules is best understood by considering both stereochemical recognition and the effects of binding on the interfacial energies of the growing crystal.

Growth rates of monolayer-height steps on the {1014} calcite surface have been measured as a function of the aqueous calcium-to-carbonate ratio. The maximum growth rates of the two common crystallographic orientations were found to deviate from the ideal stoichiometric ratio of 1:1, and dissolution features were observed under supersaturated solutions containing high calcium-to-carbonate ratios. To explain these phenomena, a theory is applied that treats the rates of attachment and detachment of aqueous calcium and carbonate ions separately. The resultant attachment rate constants are 1-3 orders of magnitude smaller than the water exchange rate of the constituent aqueous ions, suggesting that ligand-exchange processes may directly drive attachment. The broader implication is that the saturation state alone is not adequate to fully describe the rates of the multiple, independent reactions that occur on mineral surfaces under these conditions.

Using in situ atomic force microscopy, the growth rates of the obtuse and acute step orientations on the {101̅ 4} calcite surface were measured at two saturation indices as a function of the aqueous calcium-to-carbonate ratio and aqueous strontium concentration. The amount of strontium required to inhibit growth was found to correlate with the aqueous calcium concentration, but did not correlate with carbonate, suggesting that strontium inhibits attachment of calcium ions to reactive sites on the calcite surface. Strontium/ calcium cation exchange selectivity coefficients, K ex , are estimated at 1.09 ± 0.09 and 1.44 ± 0.19 for reactive sites on the obtuse and acute step orientations, respectively. The implication of this work is that, to avoid poisoning calcite growth, the concentration of calcium should be higher than the quotient of the strontium concentration and K ex , regardless of the saturation index. Previous analytical models of nucleation of kink sites on steps are expanded to include growth rates at multiple saturation indices and the effect of strontium. The rate constants for calcium attachment are found to be similar for the two step orientations, but those of carbonate vary significantly. This work will have implications for natural or engineered calcite growth, such as to sequester subsurface strontium contamination.

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