The Influence of a Protein Fragment Extracted from Abalone Shell Green Layer on the Precipitation of Calcium Carbonate Polymorphs in Aqueous Media

摘要

Many living organisms form mineral phases through biologically controlled processes, known asbiomineralization. Thus created materials are composites of both, mineral and organic components. Theshell of the gastropod mollusc red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) consists of calcite and aragonite layers,each of them containing characteristic biopolymers responsible for biomineralization. In this work, theeffect of interstitial green sheet polypeptide, GP, extracted from the green layer of the mollusc red abaloneshell, on the process of spontaneous precipitation of calcium carbonate polymorphs, was investigated.Three precipitation systems, in which the initial mineralogical composition of the precipitate wasdifferent, have been studied. Thus, in system (1) calcite appeared, in system (2) a mixture of calcite andvaterite was found, while in system (3), ASW, only aragonite precipitated. However, the precipitationkinetic measurements, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, and light and scanning electron microscopyindicated that the addition of GP in the model systems caused the inhibition of precipitation and change ofmorphology of crystals as a consequence of GP adsorption on the crystal surfaces and its entrapment intothe mineral structure. (doi: 10.5562/cca2197)