Wet-Chemical Approach to the Synthesis of Iron Whitlockite (Ca18Fe2(HPO4)2(PO4)12) via a Dissolution-Precipitation Process under Hydrothermal Conditions
CrystEngComm 2025
Diana Griesiute, Jonas Stadulis, Agne Kizalaite, Andris Antuzevics, Arita Dubņika, Dominika Zakutna, Vaclav Tyrpekl, Chen-Ying Su, Hsu-Wei Fang, Aleksej Zarkov

In the present work, iron whitlockite (Fe-WH, Ca18Fe2(HPO4)2(PO4)12) powder was successfully synthesized by a wet-chemical approach. The synthesis was performed through a dissolution-precipitation process under hydrothermal conditions. The final product was obtained in a time-efficient manner via a phase conversion from CaHPO4·2H2O at 230 °C in just 1 h. Structural properties of the obtained material were comprehensively characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis and FTIR, Raman, and EPR spectroscopy. It was determined that in the as-prepared material, Fe ions mainly exist in a reduced divalent state in accordance with the peculiarities of the WH crystal structure. Magnetic studies also revealed paramagnetic behavior of Fe-WH in the temperature range from 5 to 300 K. Upon annealing, the Fe-WH structure decomposed, forming Fe-doped β-Ca3(PO4)2 and Ca2P2O7. Thermally induced decomposition was accompanied by the oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+. The biocompatibility of the synthesized material was assessed by in vitro cytotoxicity experiments with the MC3T3-E1 preosteoblastic cell line. The investigated Fe-WH powder did not show a cytotoxic effect on the cells at all studied concentrations, demonstrating its high biocompatibility.


Keywords
Tricalcium Phosphate Synthesis, Calcium Phosphates, Bone, Biocompatibility, Hydroxyapatite, Nanoparticles, Hyperthermia, Fe
DOI
10.1039/d5ce00207a
Hyperlink
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/ce/d5ce00207a

Griesiute, D., Stadulis, J., Kizalaite, A., Antuzevics, A., Dubņika, A., Zakutna, D., Tyrpekl, V., Su, C., Fang, H., Zarkov, A. Wet-Chemical Approach to the Synthesis of Iron Whitlockite (Ca18Fe2(HPO4)2(PO4)12) via a Dissolution-Precipitation Process under Hydrothermal Conditions. CrystEngComm, 2025, No. 29, pp.4947-4955. ISSN 1466-8033. Available from: doi:10.1039/d5ce00207a

Publication language
English (en)
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