Size-dependent structural evolution of the biomineralized iron-core nanoparticles in ferritins

The structural identity of the biomineralized iron core nanoparticles in Helicobacter pylori ferritins (Hpf's) has been determined by employing soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy and soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Valence states of Fe ions are nearly trivalent in all Hpf's, indicating that the amount of magnetite (Fe3O4) is negligible. With increasing filling of Fe ions, the local configurations of Fe3+ ions change from the mixture of the tetrahedral and octahedral symmetries to the octahedral symmetry. These results demonstrate that the biomineralization of the ferritin core changes from maghemite-like (gamma-Fe2O3) formation to hematite-like (alpha-Fe2O3) formation with increasing Fe content. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4801310]