The mineralization process in the biological system has attracted many scientists to biomimetically synthesize inorganic/organic materials. An important method of biomimetic synthesis is to use a soft organic template and to control the morphogenesis of inorganic materials with complex forms. The copolymer was obtained by Yamazaki-Higashi method, involving carboxylic groups of the copolymer and the amine group of the oxadiazole derivative. The oxadiazole derivative contents relative to maleic comonomer units was estimated to be 29%. The crystallization of CaCO₃ particles from aqueous solutions, in the absence and presence of a polymer–drug conjugate based on N-vinylpyrrolidone with maleic anhydride P(NVP-MA) as support and 2-amino-5-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole is followed in this study. P(NVP-MA) is biocompatible, with low toxicity and carriers of biologically active compounds, gradually releasing native drugs from their conjugates in response to changes in pH. The influence of polymer concentration and the initial supersaturation on the nucleation and growth of calcium carbonate has been deeply investigated, showing a strong effect on the morphology of the formed composite materials [1,2]. The new materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, polarized optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, particles charge density, and electrophoresis. Smaller, more circular particles, and less porous were obtained for CaCO₃/copolymer sample. Due to the presence of the copolymer as template in CaCO₃ mineralization process, the particles stability increased up to pH = 3.4. The adsorption capacity of the microparticles as a function of their characteristics was tested using methylene blue.

1. M.-D. Damaceanu, M. Mihai, I. Popescu, M. Bruma, S. Schwarz, React Funct Polym 2012, 72, 635.

2. M. Mihai, M.-D. Damaceanu, S. Schwarz, Cryst Growth Des 2012, 12, 4479.

Acknowledgment: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n°264115 - STREAM.

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1. Effect of double hydrophilic copolymer presence, pH and supersaturation on the morphology, size, and pH stability of CaCO₃ composite microparticles
2. Synthesis and characterization of new hollow calcium carbonate/polyanion microspheres