Chemistry in Pictures: Microbroccoli

This image from Augustana University researcher Caleb DeWitt displays a colorized scanning electron micrograph of calcium carbonate crystals—specifically, the polymorph known as vaterite. The crystals’ fluffy appearance resembles the florets of a broccoli head. Kin to the recent discoveries of broccoli’s cancer-fighting properties, calcium carbonate has proved itself as more than an antacid and chalk. In related work from separately funded labs, researchers from around the world are investigating nanoscale vaterite as a delivery agent for ocular drugs. Many ocular drugs have a difficult time passing through tissues in the eye because of lacrimal drainage and blinking, but calcium carbonate nanoparticles would be sturdy enough to resist clearance from the eye and also small enough to enter.

This image is one of three winners of the recent NanoInFocus image contest, sponsored by the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, on behalf of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, along with the American Chemical Society and the University of California San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. Check out the other winners, Landscape of Nanospheres and Three-Dimensional Nanoarchitected Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Submitted by Caleb DeWitt

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