Principles of Solid-State Biological Inorganic Chemistry

PRINCIPLES OF SOLID-STATE BIOLOGICAL INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 

Biomineralisation is the study of processes that lead to the formation of hierarchically structured organic—inorganic materials generated by living organisms, such as shells, bone, and teeth. Over the last few decades, our ability to identify the often large number of macromolecules involved in the process of biomineralisation and the interactions between them has grown and expanded. 

As we begin to unravel the mechanisms by which biominerals are produced, more recently efforts have been directed to replicating key fabrication strategies and structural features into materials design. In this introductory section, we present a brief account of the principles involved in the formation of biominerals or if you prefer, the mles of thumb which govern the deposition of solid-state inorganic material. 

FIGURE 19.1 Schematic representation of the concentration of molecularly dissolved sulfur before and after nucleation as a function of time. C n is the concentration for a given nucleation rate R. (Adapted from Meldrum Cdlfen, 2008.) 

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Principles of Solid-State Biological Inorganic Chemistry An Overview of the Major Classes of Biominerals... 

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