Composition - Structure - Property Correlations in BoronContaining Bioglasses, Elucidated by Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

• Grant number: 19/09601-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2019
• End date: September 10, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Hellmut Eckert
• Grantee: Guilherme Augusto Ferreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07793-6 - CEPIV - Center for Teaching, Research and Innovation in Glass, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The development of new bioglass formulations for bone and tissue repair is an important area in applied glass science and technology. The incorporation of boron into bioglasses has recently attracted interest owing to increased bioactivity, improved biocompatibility and antibacterial function. To the present date no information is available regarding the chemical nature of the borate species and its structural integration in the bioglass network. The present proposal addresses this issue using advanced solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques in a number of standard bioglass formulations such as the 45S5 and the biosilicate (Na2O-CaO-SiO2-P2O5) systems prepared by the melt-cooling method. In addition, the influence of borate on the bioactivity of high-silica mesoporous bioglasses prepared by the sol-gel method will be studied as well. We will elucidate the speciation of the borate species and its influence on the speciation of the other glass components by multinuclear (11B, 29Si, 31P, 27Al and 23Na magic-angle spinning NMR. Furthermore, advanced NMR methodology will be used to study the structural integration of the borate component into the glass network on the basis of high-resolution dipolar double-resonance NMR methods such as rotational echo double resonance (REDOR) NMR and related techniques. An important aspect of this project will be the use of surface-selective detection techniques to study the structural transformations of bioglasses after exposure to simulated body fluids.