Study How Intracrystalline Amino Acids Tune the Magnetization of Manganese (II) Carbonate

Incorporation of organic molecules into the lattice of inorganic crystalline hosts is a common phenomenon in biomineralization, and has been shown to alter various properties of the crystalline host. Taking this phenomenon as our source of inspiration, we propose herein to study how incorporation of specific single amino acids into the lattice of manganese (II) carbonate alters its inherent magnetic properties. Our preliminary results show that amino-acid-incorporating paramagnetic MnCO3 exhibits different magnetic behavior as compared to that of pure MnCO3. We will study the effect the incorporation of amino acids have on the lattice distortion and microstructure of the host crystal and correlate this to the measured magnetic properties. We will also study the changes in structure below the Néel temperature at 5K as well as perform in-situ heating to study the kinetics of the lattice distortion relaxation and correlate this as well to the magnetic properties.