Synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy provides evidence for a molecular bond between calcium and mineralizing organic phases in invertebrate calcareous skeletons

Organic compounds have been extracted from calcium carbonate skeletons produced by three invertebrate species belonging to distinct phyla. The soluble parts of these skeleton matrices were isolated and analysed by synchrotronbased X-ray spectroscopy (XPS). The presence of calcium associated with these organic materials was revealed in every sample studied, with important variations in Ca 2p binding energy from species to species. Measured Ca 2p binding energy values are more related to compositional diversity of the mineralizing matrices of the skeletons, whose taxonomic dependence has long been established, than to the Ca carbonate polymorph selected to build the skeletal units. This suggests a physical bond between species-specific mineralizing organic assemblages and the associated calcium. Remarkably, the binding energy of 2p electrons in calcium associated with mineralizing matrices is consistently higher than Ca 2p values obtained in purely mineral carbonate (both calcite and aragonite). The ability both to identify and measure the effect of organic matrices on their mineral counterpart in calcareous biominerals opens a new perspective for a functional approach to the biomineralization process.