Identification and evaluation of HPO4 ions in biomimetic poorly crystalline apatite and bone mineral

Synthetic poorly crystalline apatites (PCA) analogous to bone mineral have a highly reactive surface especially due to the presence of labile non-apatitic carbonate and phosphate groups. Such apatites presenting different HPO4 contents have been analyzed chemically and examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The chemical analysis results for the hydrogenophosphate ions have been compared to the quantitative FTIR results obtained by decomposition of the nu (4) PO4 domains. The aim of this work was to set-up a FTIR method to easily and rapidly evaluate the HPO4 content of PCA and bone mineral. FTIR spectroscopy provides a rapid means to approximately determine HPO4 content in apatite and bone mineral using a very small amount of sample.