Synthesis and characterization of new crystalline mesoporous beta-tricalcium phosphate nanoparticles

Abstract

Calcium phosphates, including hydroxyapatite [HA, Ca10 (PO4)6(OH)2] and beta-tricalcium phosphate [B-TCP, Ca3(PO4)2], are the main mineral component of bone tissue and teeth. The synthetic calcium phosphates are of special interest in medicine because of their biocompatibility, bioactivity and non-toxicity. B-TCP is advantageous to HA for drug delivery system due to their high solubility and controllable bioresorption rate. To obtain B-TCP, the literature reports the transformation of calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) to ?-TCP since it couldnot be synthesized directly in aqueous solution, until now. For the first time, B-TCP have been successfully synthesized by wet precipitation method at room temperature with a Ca/P molar ratio equal to 1.5 and pH at 6. The present work is concerned with the preparation of B-TCP and it characterization through XRD, BET and TEM analysis. The results showed well-characterized peaks of crystalline pure B-TCP (JCPDS 09-0169) for the dried powder, with a high BET surface area of 574 ± 7 (m2/g). The TEM micrographs exhibits mesoporous structure, which is suitable as a drug carrier.