Biomineralization. Principles And Concepts In Bioinorganic Materials Chemistry

The Oxford Chemistry Masters series is designed to provide clear and concise accounts of important topics - both established and emergent - that may be encountered by chemistry students as they progress from the senior undergraduate stage through postgraduate study to leadership in research. These Masters assume little prior knowledge, other than the foundations provided by an undergraduate degree in chemistry, and lead the reader through to an appreciation of the state of the art in the topic whilst providing an entrée to the original literature in the field. This book describes the principles and concepts that arise from a chemical perspective of biomineralization and their application in the new field of biomimetic materials chemistry. After surveying the major types of biominerals (chapter 2) the general principles of biomineralization are discussed (chapter 3), followed by a detailed description of the chemical aspects of biomineralization (chapter 4). Four key processes of biomineralization - boundary-organized biomineralization (chapter 5); organic matrix-mediated biomineralization (chapter 6), morphogenesis (chapter 7) and biomineral tectonics (chapter 8) - are then reviewed. The final chapter describes how current knowledge of biomineralization is inspiring new biomimetic strategies in synthetic materials chemistry.