Anna Hirsch

Plant Cystoliths: A Complex Functional Biocomposite of Four Distinct Silica and Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Phases

Plant cystoliths are mineralized objects that are formed by specialized cells in the leaves of certain plants. The main mineral component of cystoliths by volume is amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) and the minor component is silica. We show that the silica stalk is formed first and is essential for ACC formation. Furthermore, the cystolith is shown to be composed of four distinct mineral phases with different chemical properties: an almost pure silica phase grades into a Mg-rich silica phase. This Mg-rich silica is overlaid by a relatively stable ACC phase. A bulky and less stable ACC phase encapsulates the first ACC phase. This architecture poses interesting questions about the role of Mg in the silica phase and suggests a strategy for ACC stabilization that takes advantage of a precise regulation of the mineral-growth microenvironment.

Biologically controlled morphology and twinning in guanine crystals

Guanine crystals are widely used in nature as components of multilayer reflectors. Guanine-based reflective systems found in the copepod cuticle and in the mirror of the scallop eye are unique in that the multilayered reflectors are tiled to form a contiguous packed array. In the copepod cuticle, hexagonal crystals are closely packed to produce brilliant colors. In the scallop eye, square crystals are tiled to obtain an image-forming reflecting mirror. The tiles are about 1 μm in size and 70 nm thick. According to analysis of their electron diffraction patterns, the hexagon and square tiles are not single crystals. Rather, each tile type is a composite of what appears to be three crystalline domains differently oriented and stacked onto one another, achieved through a twice-repeated twinning about their ⟨011⟩ and ⟨021⟩ crystal axes, respectively. By these means, the monoclinic guanine crystal mimics higher symmetry hexagonal and tetragonal structures to achieve unique morphologies.

Optically functional isoxanthopterin crystals in the mirrored eyes of decapod crustaceans

Significance Some aquatic animals use reflectors in their eyes either to form images or to increase photon capture. Guanine is the most widespread molecular component of these reflectors. Here, we show that crystals of isoxanthopterin, a pteridine analog of guanine, form both the image-forming “distal” mirror and the intensity-enhancing tapetum reflector in the compound eyes of some decapod crustaceans. The crystal structure of isoxanthopterin was determined, providing an explanation for why these crystals are so well suited for efficient reflection. Pteridines were previously known only as pigments, and our discovery raises the question of which other organic molecules may be used to form crystals with superior reflective properties either in organisms or in artificial optical devices. The eyes of some aquatic animals form images through reflective optics. Shrimp, lobsters, crayfish, and prawns possess reflecting superposition compound eyes, composed of thousands of square-faceted eye units (ommatidia). Mirrors in the upper part of the eye (the distal mirror) reflect light collected from many ommatidia onto the photosensitive elements of the retina, the rhabdoms. A second reflector, the tapetum, underlying the retina, back-scatters dispersed light onto the rhabdoms. Using microCT and cryo-SEM imaging accompanied by in situ micro–X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy, we investigated the hierarchical organization and materials properties of the reflective systems at high resolution and under close-to-physiological conditions. We show that the distal mirror consists of three or four layers of plate-like nanocrystals. The tapetum is a diffuse reflector composed of hollow nanoparticles constructed from concentric lamellae of crystals. Isoxanthopterin, a pteridine analog of guanine, forms both the reflectors in the distal mirror and in the tapetum. The crystal structure of isoxanthopterin was determined from crystal-structure prediction calculations and verified by comparison with experimental X-ray diffraction. The extended hydrogen-bonded layers of the molecules result in an extremely high calculated refractive index in the H-bonded plane, n = 1.96, which makes isoxanthopterin crystals an ideal reflecting material. The crystal structure of isoxanthopterin, together with a detailed knowledge of the reflector superstructures, provide a rationalization of the reflective optics of the crustacean eye.

Isoxanthopterin: An Optically Functional Biogenic Crystal in the Eyes of Decapod Crustaceans

The eyes of some aquatic animals form images through reflective optics. Shrimp, lobsters, crayfish and prawns possess reflecting superposition compound eyes, composed of thousands of square-faceted eye-units (ommatidia). Mirrors in the upper part of the eye (the distal mirror) reflect light collected from many ommatidia onto the underlying photosensitive elements of the retina, the rhabdoms. A second reflector, the tapetum, underlying the retina, back-scatters dispersed light onto the rhabdoms. Using microCT and cryo-SEM imaging accompanied by in situ micro-X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy, we investigated the hierarchical organization and materials properties of the reflective systems at high resolution and under close to physiological conditions. We show that the distal mirror consists of three or four layers of sparse plate-like nano-crystals. The tapetum is a diffuse reflector composed of hollow nanoparticles constructed from concentric lamellae of crystals. Isoxanthopterin, a pteridine analog of guanine, forms both the reflectors in the distal mirror and in the tapetum. The crystal structure of isoxanthopterin was determined from crystal structure prediction calculations and verified by comparison with experimental X-ray diffraction. The extended hydrogen bonded layers of the molecules results in an extremely high calculated refractive index in the H-bonded plane, n = 1.96, which makes isoxanthopterin crystals an ideal reflecting material. The crystal structure of isoxanthopterin, together with a detailed knowledge of the reflector superstructures, provide a rationalization of the reflective optics of the crustacean eye. Significance Aquatic animals use reflectors in their eyes either to form images or to increase photon capture. Guanine is the most widespread molecular component of these reflectors. Here we show that crystals of isoxanthopterin, a pteridine analogue of guanine, form both the image-forming ‘distal’ mirror and the intensity-enhancing tapetum reflector in the compound eyes of some decapod crustaceans. The crystal structure of isoxanthopterin was determined, providing an explanation for why these crystals are so well suited for efficient reflection. Pteridines were previously known only as pigments and our discovery raises the question of which other organic molecules may be used to form crystals with superior reflective properties either in organisms or in artificial optical devices.

Vibrational properties of isotopically enriched materials: the case of calcite

Isotope enrichment is widely used to affect atomic masses, facilitating data acquisition and peak assignments in experiments such as nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy. It is also used for elucidating the origin of weak features in systems where natural isotopic abundances are low. However, it is not possible to always know a priori precisely how vibrational modes change for arbitrary levels of isotopic substitution. Here, we examine this issue by presenting a joint experimental and theoretical study for the important case of 13C isotope substitution effects on the infrared spectra of calcite. By systematically varying the 13C : 12C ratio, we find that the relative positions and intensities of infrared-active vibrational modes can vary, in a non-linear and mode-dependent fashion, with minority isotope content and proximity. This allows us to determine the origin of weak spectral features due to the natural abundance of isotopes and to show that even relatively low levels of substitution are not necessarily within the “dilute limit,” below which isotopic substitutions do not interact.

Terahertz spectroscopy of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene molecular solids from first principles

We present a computational analysis of the terahertz spectra of the monoclinic and the orthorhombic polymorphs of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. Very good agreement with experimental data is found when using density functional theory that includes Tkatchenko–Scheffler pair-wise dispersion interactions. Furthermore, we show that for these polymorphs the theoretical results are only weakly affected by many-body dispersion contributions. The absence of dispersion interactions, however, causes sizable shifts in vibrational frequencies and directly affects the spatial character of the vibrational modes. Mode assignment allows for a distinction between the contributions of the monoclinic and orthorhombic polymorphs and shows that modes in the range from 0 to ca. 3.3 THz comprise both inter- and intramolecular vibrations, with the former dominating below ca. 1.5 THz. We also find that intramolecular contributions primarily involve the nitro and methyl groups. Finally, we present a prediction for the terahertz spectrum of 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, showing that a modest chemical change leads to a markedly different terahertz spectrum.