Understanding
the stability and phase transformations of amorphous
materials may open the way toward structurally complex, nonequilibrium
structures that are the future of materials science. Elucidating the
ultrafine specifics of the transition of amorphous calcium phosphate
(ACP) to hydroxyapatite (HAp) and other crystalline calcium phosphate
(CP) phases may also pave the way for the development of nondrug,
acellular, and purely materials-based therapies for a number of osteopathic
conditions. Reports on classical and nonclassical mechanisms of nucleation
and growth of HAp abound, but here it is shown that these two modes
of growth are wedded during the crystallization of HAp from an amorphous
precursor. This process combines growth via ionic units, atomic clusters,
and spheroid amorphous nanoparticles of variable sizes as well as
via internal lattice rearrangements and is typified by a mechanistic
multiplicity that agrees well with the pleiotropy and protean nature
of this material. Formation and retention of the α-polymorph
of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) exclusively in a material formed through
amorphous precursors under a specific annealing regimen and the diffractometric
pattern matching indicated that ACP structurally resembles α-TCP
more than β-TCP or HAp. Crystallographic symmetry comparison
between HAp and α-TCP-like ACP was provided in support of this
match, primarily focusing on the greater void concentration in α-TCP
than in other TCP polymorphs and the similarities in the pseudohexagonal
arrangement of ionic columns in HAp and α-TCP. The elimination
of structural water correlated with the closing of the amorphous structure
in the first stages of phase transformation and was entailed by the
red shift of P–O stretches and the blue shift of the O–P–O
bending vibration modes as well as by the reduction of the high-index
(434) and (264) lattice constants of α-TCP-like ACP. Meanwhile,
the environment around Ca–O and OH groups varied less during
the early stages of crystallization, suggesting that the rearrangement
of heavier and more kosmotropic phosphates governs the structural
transition, while more chaotropic calcium and hydroxyl ions act as
diffusive fillers of the phosphate network. While the structure suddenly
opened in parallel with the formation of first crystalline products
at high temperature, its closing accompanied by a nonlinear reduction
in crystalline order preceded the transition. The path connecting
the initial, amorphous state and the final, crystalline one is, therefore,
not coherent, and some structural order established in the amorphous
structure during aging at room temperature must first be annihilated
under the inflow of thermal energy before a longer-lasting order in
the material can emerge. These results imply that there is either
none or partial continuity between the recovery process under ambient
conditions and the recovery process under high-temperature conditions.
Last but not least, the reduction of crystallinity as a step preceding
its sudden increase attests to the presence...