Amphiphilic Phosphoprotein-Controlled Formation of Amorphous Calcium Carbonate with Hierarchical Superstructure

Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) plays important roles in biomineralization, and the phosphoproteins extracted from biogenic stable ACC can induce and stabilize synthetic ACC in vitro. Here, mineralization of square-shaped ACC plates with micrometer-sized channels has been reported in the presence of the amphiphilic phosphoprotein casein. Casein can be assumed to take a key role during ACC plate formation, where it serves as an effective stabilization agent for ACC and assembles spherical ACC particles into ACC plates. The stabilizing effect of casein arises from the electrostatic attraction between phosphate groups as well as carbonate groups (especially the former) and the calcium ions, preventing the transformation from unstable ACC to the more stable crystalline phase of CaCO3. The assembling effect of casein mainly comes from the hydrophobic interaction between casein molecules bound on CaCO3 particle surface. The inclusion of casein in ACC plates revealed by the thermogavimetric analysis confirms the proposed stabilizing and assembling mechanism. The ability to fabricate such novel hierarchical structured ACC holds the promise for creating more complex micro- and nanostructured materials by use of biological proteins with special structure.