The Effect of Organic Macromolecules on the Vateritet to Calcite Transformation

1993 
Small quantities of acidic macromolecules were added to crystallizing calcium carbonate in an attempt to engineer crystal growth. The additives are simple analogs to those molecules found in close association with the mineral phase in biological ceramics. When 5 or 10 ppm of the four additives (poly-L-glutamate, poly-L-aspartate, polyacrylate and polymaleate) were added to aqueous suspensions of metastable vaterite, the transformation to calcite was markedly retarded, and the morphology of the final crystal product was altered. The two polypeptides were most effective in inhibiting calcite nucleation and growth; they also promoted vaterite aggregation, and caused the formation of large calcite crystals.
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