title: Novel morphology of calcium carbonate controlled by poly(L-lysine).
abstract: The novel calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) morphology, twin-sphere with an equatorial girdle, has been obtained under the control of poly(L-lysine) (PLys) through gas-diffusion method. The effect of the concentration of calcium cation and PLys, the reaction time, and the initial pH value are investigated, and various interesting morphologies, including twin-sphere, discus-like, hexagonal plate, and hallow structure are observed by using scanning electronic microscopy. Laser microscopic Raman spectroscopy studies indicated that all these CaCO(3) are vaterite. A possible mechanism is suggested to explain the formation of the twin-sphere based morphologies according to the results. It is proven that alkaline polypeptides can control the mineralization of CaCO(3) precisely as the reported acidic polypeptides and double hydrophilic block copolymers.
authors: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China.
authors: Yuan
authors: Y
authors: Yao
authors: Wenyong
authors: W
authors: Dong
authors: Shenmin
authors: S
authors: Zhu
authors: Xinhai
authors: X
authors: Yu
authors: Deyue
authors: D
authors: Yan
mesh_terms: D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008956:Models, Chemical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman
chemical_list: D011107:Polylysine; D002119:Calcium Carbonate