Biomimetic synthesis of hollow microspheres of calcium carbonate crystals in the presence of polymer and surfactant

Diatom-inspired skeletonisation of insulin – Mechanistic insights into crystallisation and extracellular bioactivity

“…Furthermore, the polymorphology of calcium carbonate can be guided through its combination with different additives. Some of the more commonly studied additives include magnesium, PVP-SDS complex micelles and different amino acids [34,35,28,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,15]. Composite crystals resulting from the interactions between additives and minerals develop different shapes such as rod-shaped, cube-like, hexagon-like, cauliflower-like and spinose spheres [16,43].…”

“…Insulin may act as an organic template for the crystallisation of calcium carbonate, which suggests that so long as the particles are kept in solution and not dried, the insulin will remain skeletonised and continue to interact 4 strongly with the calcium carbonate. Zhao and Wang [15] reported that on drying, templating macromolecular additives (in their case PVP-SDS complex micelles) can detach and degrade leaving hollow CaCO 3 crystals. Based on the work of [15], we also suggest that once dried, biomacromolecule/particulate interactions may start to break down leaving eventually, hollow crystals of calcium carbonate.…”

“…Zhao and Wang [15] reported that on drying, templating macromolecular additives (in their case PVP-SDS complex micelles) can detach and degrade leaving hollow CaCO 3 crystals. Based on the work of [15], we also suggest that once dried, biomacromolecule/particulate interactions may start to break down leaving eventually, hollow crystals of calcium carbonate.…”

“…Biomineralisation gives birth to a broad range of minerals with functional patterns and diverse properties. It does so by tailoring the formation of complex inorganic-organic structures, where the organic component acts as a template to control mineral nucleation and crystal growth [15,16]. Diatoms are inspirational models for biomineralisation.…”

Biomimetic hollow mesoporous hydroxyapatite microsphere with controlled morphology, entrapment efficiency and degradability for cancer therapy

“…29 It was used, together with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), to achieve hollow CaCO 3 microspheres via a precipitation reaction at a relatively low concentration. 30 However, in some recent studies, the concentration of SDS used in the preparation of hollow HAp microspheres could be up to 0.1 M (28.8 mg mL À1 ), 6,12,26 which is much higher than its critical concentration to cause cytotoxicity. 31 Even multiple washing and rinsing steps have been claimed in the SDS assisted synthesis, considering the sustained release prole of the hollow microspheres, there still remains some concerns about the side effects that might be caused by the residual SDS.…”