Characterization of the phosphatic mineral of the barnacle Ibla cumingi at atomic level by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance: comparison with other phosphatic biominerals.

Ibliform barnacles are among the few invertebrate animals harnessing calcium phosphate to construct hard tissue. The (31)P solid-state NMR (SSNMR) signal from the shell plates of Ibla cumingi (Iblidae) is broader than that of bone, and shifted by ca 1 ppm to low frequency. (1)H-(31)P heteronuclear correlation (HETCOR) experiments show a continuum of different phosphorus/phosphate atomic environments, close to hydrogen populations with resonance frequencies between ca 10 and 20 ppm. Associated (1)H and (31)P chemical shifts argue the coexistence of weakly (high (31)P frequency, low (1)H frequency) to more strongly (lower (31)P frequency, higher (1)H frequency) hydrogen-bonded hydrogen phosphate-like molecular/ionic species. There is no resolved signal from discrete OH(-) ions. (13)C SSNMR shows chitin, protein and other organic biomolecules but, unlike bone, there are no significant atomic scale organic matrix-mineral contacts. The poorly ordered hydrogen phosphate-like iblid mineral is strikingly different, structurally and compositionally, from both vertebrate bone mineral and the more crystalline fluoroapatite of the linguliform brachiopods. It probably represents a previously poorly characterized calcium phosphate biomineral, the evolution of which may have reflected either the chemical conditions of ancestral seas or the mechanical advantages of phosphatic biomineralization over a calcium carbonate equivalent.