This book provides a comprehensive analysis of biominerals, in particular phosphates and carbonates of calcium. The book begins with a discussion of the theories of solid state chemistry and thermodynamics of ionic solid solutions and applies these theories to show how physiological constituents like sodium, magnesium, carbonate, chloride, fluoride, lead, or strontium influence the formation, stability, and solubility of calcium phosphates. The results of this discussion are then applied to a critical evaluation of data regarding minerals in bone, dentin, and tooth enamel, their formation during growth and turn-over, their stability under physiological conditions and their breakdown under pathological conditions. These principles are also applied to pathological calcifications such as renal calculi, arterial wall calcifications, chondrocalcinosis, dental calculus and salivary stones. A similar approach is used as the authors discuss carbonations such as calcite, dolomite, and aragonite. The book also includes an extensive analysis of the advantageous effects of magnesium supplementation. The wealth of knowledge in this extensive treatise of biominerals is valuable to medical, dental and ecological biologists, as well as scientists and clinicians in the fields of osteoporosis, bone diseases, caries, renal stone disease, parodontology and nutrition.

Fossil biomineralizarion in a geologic framework for advanced students and researchers in paleontology, Earth history, evolution, sedimentology, geochemistry, and materials science.

This first comprehensive overview of the modern aspects of biomineralization represents life and materials science at its best: Bioinspired pathways are the hot topics in many disciplines and this holds especially true for biomineralization. Here, the editors -- well-known members of associations and prestigious institutes -- have assembled an international team of renowned authors to provide first-hand research results. This second volume deals with biometic model systems in biomineralization, including the biomineral approach to bionics, bioinspired materials synthesis and bio-supported materials chemistry, encapsulation and the imaging of internal nanostructures of biominerals. An interdisciplinary must-have account, for biochemists, bioinorganic chemists, lecturers in chemistry and biochemistry, materials scientists, biologists, and solid state physicists.

In the last few decades great strides have been made in chemistry at the nanoscale, where the atomic granularity of matter and the exact positions of individual atoms are key determinants of structure and dynamics. Less attention, however, has been paid to the mesoscale-it is at this scale, in the range extending from large molecules (10 nm) through viruses to eukaryotic cells (10 microns), where interesting ensemble effects and the functionality that is critical to macroscopic phenomenon begins to manifest itself and cannot be described by laws on the scale of atoms and molecules alone. To further explore how knowledge about mesoscale phenomena can impact chemical research and development activities and vice versa, the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Research Council convened a workshop on mesoscale chemistry in November 2014. With a focus on the research on chemical phenomena at the mesoscale, participants examined the opportunities that utilizing those behaviors can have for developing new catalysts, adding new functionality to materials, and increasing our understanding of biological and interfacial systems. The workshop also highlighted some of the challenges for analysis and description of mesoscale structures. This report summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

In nature, biological organisms produce mineralized tissues such as bone, teeth, diatoms, and shells. Biomineralization is the sophisticated process of production of these inorganic minerals by living organisms. Construction of organic-inorganic hybrid materials with controlled mineralization analogous to those produced by nature has recently received much attention because it can aid in understanding the mechanisms of the biomineralization process and development of biomimetic materials processing. The biomineralization ? processes use aqueous solutions at temperatures below 100 C and no toxic intermediates are produced in these systems. From a serious global en- ronmental problem point of view, the development of processes inspired by biomineralization would offer valuable insights into material science and en- neering to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact. One of the most challenging scienti'c problems is to gain greater insight into the mol- ular interactions occurring at the interface between the inorganic mineral and the macromolecular organic matrix. Model systems are often regarded as a straight-forward experimental approach toward biomimetic crystallization. Hierarchical architectures consisting of small building blocks of inorganic cr- tals are often found in biominerals. Studies of nanocrystal self-organization in solution systems would also be helpful for understanding biomineralization. In these volumes, we focus on construction of organic-inorganic hybrid - terials with controlled mineralization inspired by natural biomineralization. In the'rst volume, thereader will ?nd contributionsproviding abasic scopeof the mineralization process in aqueous solution.

This title takes an interdisciplinary approach to the central role of solubility in pathological biomineralisation, ranging from traditional thermodynamics and kinetics to unusual concepts such as the PILP process. The scientific background and expertise of the contributors, ranges accordingly from solubility modelling and database development, renal stone and bone implant research, Mössbauer spectroscopy and structural chemistry to biochemistry and crystallisation. The chapters all have a quantitative, physico-chemical component rather than giving purely phenomenological descriptions. The contributors deal with aspects and concepts that have not previously been common in the study of pathological biomineralisation processes.

Part A.: Overviews of biological inorganic chemistry : 1. Bioinorganic chemistry and the biogeochemical cycles -- 2. Metal ions and proteins: binding, stability, and folding -- 3. Special cofactors and metal clusters -- 4. Transport and storage of metal ions in biology -- 5. Biominerals and biomineralization -- 6. Metals in medicine. -- Part B.: Metal ion containing biological systems : 1. Metal ion transport and storage -- 2. Hydrolytic chemistry -- 3. Electron transfer, respiration, and photosynthesis -- 4. Oxygen metabolism -- 5. Hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur metabolism -- 6. Metalloenzymes with radical intermediates -- 7. Metal ion receptors and signaling. -- Cell biology, biochemistry, and evolution: Tutorial I. -- Fundamentals of coordination chemistry: Tutorial II.

Biomineralization is a hot topic in the area of materials, and this volume in the Metals Ions in Life Sciences series takes a systematic approach, dealing with all aspects from the fundamentals to applications. Key biological features of biomineralization, such as gene directed growth and the role of enzymes are covered, as are new areas, including copper/zinc in the jaws of invertebrates or magnetic biomaterials that help birds with navigation