Hydroxyapatite (HA), [Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2], the natural major inorganic constituent of bone and teeth in the form of nano-crystals, is usually a system of choice to study protein/biocompatiblesurface interactions. The study of these interactions is crucial not only for the development of new biomaterials and to understand biomineralization processes but also for several technological and biomedical applications such as biodevices and drug delivery systems. Nonetheless, despite the great efforts in investigating protein/HA systems, atomistic information on the actual contact occurring at the interface is rather scarce. Suitable to this target is the adoption of a “surface science model” approach, based on the interplay among the preparation of materials with well defined surface features, spectroscopic and accurate quantum mechanical techniques. This approach has been very fruitful to obtain a deep knowledge on surface molecular events relevant for heterogeneous catalysis, hence successfully developing a well-established “surface science model for catalysis”. In that respect, it is worth pointing out that for the model to be successful, extended non-defective crystalline faces grown out of a single crystal are usually employed, together with ultra high vacuum conditions. At variance with this approach, here we worked at standard conditions and focused on the possibility to employ nanometric HA particles with well defined surfaces, because in bone tissues, HA is present as nanoparticles embedded in a collagen matrix, to form a highly organized composite material and not as a bulk extended crystal. These HA nanoparticles were used to investigate the adsorption of non-ionic HOOC-CH2-NH2 glycine (Gly) vapours by means of IR measurements. The adoption of a single aminoacid, as the basic molecular brick of proteins, has allowed to supplement the experimental measurements with modelling techniques based on first principle quantum mechanical methods which have been successfully adopted in the past by some of us.
Towards a “surface science model for biology”: glycineadsorption on nanohydroxyapatite with well defined surfaces
SAKHNO, YURIY;COLUCCIA, Salvatore;UGLIENGO, Piero;MARTRA, Gianmario
2011-01-01
Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HA), [Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2], the natural major inorganic constituent of bone and teeth in the form of nano-crystals, is usually a system of choice to study protein/biocompatiblesurface interactions. The study of these interactions is crucial not only for the development of new biomaterials and to understand biomineralization processes but also for several technological and biomedical applications such as biodevices and drug delivery systems. Nonetheless, despite the great efforts in investigating protein/HA systems, atomistic information on the actual contact occurring at the interface is rather scarce. Suitable to this target is the adoption of a “surface science model” approach, based on the interplay among the preparation of materials with well defined surface features, spectroscopic and accurate quantum mechanical techniques. This approach has been very fruitful to obtain a deep knowledge on surface molecular events relevant for heterogeneous catalysis, hence successfully developing a well-established “surface science model for catalysis”. In that respect, it is worth pointing out that for the model to be successful, extended non-defective crystalline faces grown out of a single crystal are usually employed, together with ultra high vacuum conditions. At variance with this approach, here we worked at standard conditions and focused on the possibility to employ nanometric HA particles with well defined surfaces, because in bone tissues, HA is present as nanoparticles embedded in a collagen matrix, to form a highly organized composite material and not as a bulk extended crystal. These HA nanoparticles were used to investigate the adsorption of non-ionic HOOC-CH2-NH2 glycine (Gly) vapours by means of IR measurements. The adoption of a single aminoacid, as the basic molecular brick of proteins, has allowed to supplement the experimental measurements with modelling techniques based on first principle quantum mechanical methods which have been successfully adopted in the past by some of us.
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