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BIOMINERALIZATION OF CALCIUM CARBONATE Nature has a profound ability to control crystalline structure in biological systems. Calcium carbonate is being studied because it composes the primary mineral found in the shells of mollusks. The proteins that assemble the shell are able to control the crystalline growth on the nanoscale. In this way the protein activity has become a model for controlling crystalline growth. Utilizing this model for crystalline growth, we are currently organizing calcium carbonate on different length scales by using AB block copolypeptides, which can both nucleate and self-assemble the individual crystals. The primary block used in the block copolypeptides is aspartic acid because it has been found to bind with Ca2+ which will help control the way calcium carbonate will form. This research has already found that the addition of the block coploypeptides containing aspartic acid can change the morphology of the crystalline material. It is our hope that by changing the stereochemistry of the amino acids we can cause a polymorph transition in our material. Another goal of this research is to apply this method to other crystalline materials.
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