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Calcium carbonate is an abundant biomineral that is of great importance in industrial or geological contexts. In recent years, many studies of the precipitation of CaCO3 have shown that amorphous precursors and intermediates are widespread in the biomineralization processes and can also be exploited in bio-inspired materials chemistry. In this work, the thorough investigation of a urinary stone of a guinea pig suggests that amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) can play a role in pathological mineralization. Importantly, certain analytical techniques that are often applied in the corresponding analyses are sensitive only to crystalline CaCO3 and can misleadingly exclude the relevance of calcium carbonate during the formation of urinary stones. Our analyses suggest that ACC is the major constituent of the particular stone studied, which possibly precipitated on struvite nuclei. Minor amounts of urea, other stable inorganics, and minor organic inclusions are observed as well. published

Amine-CO2 chemistry is important for a range of different chemical processes, including carbon dioxide capture. Here, we studied how aspects of this chemistry could be used to prepare calcium carbonates. Chemically crosslinked organogels were first prepared by reacting hyperbranched polyethylene imine (PEI) dissolved in DMSO with carbon dioxide. The crosslinks of the organogel consisted of ammonium-carbamate ion pairs as was shown by IR spectroscopy. These carbamate-rich organogels were subsequently subjected to aqueous solutions of calcium acetate, and amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precipitated. The ACC did not crystalize during the mixing for up to 20 h, as was shown by a combination of IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and thermal analysis. Some PEI had been included or adsorbed on the ACC particles. Traces of calcite were observed in one sample that had been subjected to water in a work-up procedure.