Introducing the crystalline phase of dicalcium phosphate monohydrate

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 1546
• Main Authors: Lu, Bing-Qiang, Willhammar, Tom, Sun, Ben-Ben, Hedin, Niklas, Gale, Julian D., Gebauer, Denis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24-03-2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 147/28; 639/638/263/915; 639/638/298/54/991; Alkalinity; Animal metabolism; Animals; Biomedical materials; Biomineralization; Calcium; Calcium phosphates; Calcium Phosphates - chemistry; Cell Line; Crystal structure; Crystallization; Geology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Methanol - chemistry; Mineralization; Minerals; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; multidisciplinary; Orthophosphates; Phosphate; Phosphates; Rats; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Solvents - chemistry; Synthesis; Water - chemistry; X-Ray Diffraction
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15333-6

Calcium orthophosphates (CaPs) are important in geology, biomineralization, animal metabolism and biomedicine, and constitute a structurally and chemically diverse class of minerals. In the case of dicalcium phosphates, ever since brushite (CaHPO
4
·2H
2
O, dicalcium phosphate dihydrate, DCPD) and monetite (CaHPO
4
, dicalcium phosphate, DCP) were first described in 19
th
century, the form with intermediary chemical formula CaHPO
4
·H
2
O (dicalcium phosphate monohydrate, DCPM) has remained elusive. Here, we report the synthesis and crystal structure determination of DCPM. This form of CaP is found to crystallize from amorphous calcium hydrogen phosphate (ACHP) in water-poor environments. The crystal structure of DCPM is determined to show a layered structure with a monoclinic symmetry. DCPM is metastable in water, but can be stabilized by organics, and has a higher alkalinity than DCP and DCPD. This study serves as an inspiration for the future exploration of DCPM’s potential role in biomineralization, or biomedical applications.
Understanding the crystal structure of different calcium phosphates is important for a range of different subjects from geology to biomedicine. Here, the authors report on the synthesis and determination of the crystal structure of dicalcium phosphate monohydrate.