Carbonate substitution in the mineral component of bone: Discriminating the structural changes, simultaneously imposed by carbonate in A and B sites of apatite

A series of differently substituted high temperature AB-type carbonated apatites show interesting structural changes, an additional B-carbonate site with the presence of A-carbonate in the apatite, and crystal domain sizes that correlate only with the amount of A-site carbonate. Our results provide an explanation for the dominance of B-type carbonate in biominerals.193