The characteristic shapes, structures and properties of biominerals arise from their interplay with a macromolecular matrix. The developing mineral interacts with acidic macromolecules, which are either dissolved in the crystallization medium or associated with insoluble matrix polymers, that affect growth habits and phase selection or completely inhibit precipitation in solution. Yet little is known about the role of matrix-immobilized acidic macromolecules in directing mineralization. Here, by using in situ liquid-phase electron microscopy to visualize the nucleation and growth of CaCO3 in a matrix of polystyrene sulphonate (PSS), we show that the binding of calcium ions to form Ca-PSS globules is a key step in the formation of metastable amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC), an important precursor phase in many biomineralization systems. Our findings demonstrate that ion binding can play a significant role in directing nucleation, independently of any control over the free-energy barrier to nucleation.

Understanding and controlling nucleation is important for many crystallization applications. Calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) is often used as a model system to investigate nucleation mechanisms. Despite its great importance in geology, biology, and many industrial applications, CaCO 3 nucleation is still a topic of intense discussion, with new pathways for its growth from ions in solution proposed in recent years. These new pathways include the socalled nonclassical nucleation mechanism via the assembly of thermodynamically stable prenucleation clusters, as well as the formation of a dense liquid precursor phase via liquid-liquid phase separation. Here, we present results from a combined experimental and computational investigation on the precipitation of CaCO 3 in dilute aqueous solutions. We propose that a dense liquid phase (containing 4-7 H 2 O per CaCO 3 unit) forms in supersaturated solutions through the association of ions and ion pairs without significant participation of larger ion clusters. This liquid acts as the precursor for the formation of solid CaCO 3 in the form of vaterite, which grows via a net transfer of ions from solution according to z Ca 2+ + z CO 3 2− → z CaCO 3 . The results show that all steps in this process can be explained according to classical concepts of crystal nucleation and growth, and that long-standing physical concepts of nucleation can describe multistep, multiphase growth mechanisms.calcium carbonate | nucleation | crystal growth | cryo-electron microscopy | molecular simulation I n the process of forming a solid phase from a supersaturated solution, nucleation is the key step governing the timescale of the transition. Controlling nucleation is an essential aspect in many crystallization processes, where distinct crystal polymorphism, size, morphology, and other characteristics are required. It is, therefore, important to obtain a fundamental understanding of nucleation mechanisms.More than 150 years ago, a basic theoretical framework, classical nucleation theory (CNT) (1, 2), was developed to describe such nucleation events. CNT describes the formation of nuclei from the dynamic and stochastic association of monomeric units (e.g., ions, atoms, or molecules) that overcome a free-energy barrier at a critical nucleus size and grow out to a mature bulk phase. Calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) is a frequently used model system to study nucleation (3-5); however, despite the many years of effort, there are still phenomena associated with CaCO 3 crystal formation where the applicability of classical nucleation concepts have been questioned (6). These include certain microstructures and habits of biominerals formed by organisms (7), or geological mineral deposits with unusual mineralogical and textural patterns (8).Three anhydrous crystalline polymorphs of CaCO 3 are observed in nature: vaterite, aragonite, and calcite in order of increasing thermodynamic stability. In many cases, the precipitation of CaCO 3 from solution is described as a multistep process, with amorphous phases first pr...

No abstract