UC Santa Barbara

Phosphates play a ubiquitous role in biology, from structural components including cell membranes and bone to energy storage via ATP, but the solution phase space leading to the formation of phosphate clustering is not entirely understood. My work will help elucidate the role of phosphate clusters in biological solutions and the unresolved formation pathway of bone. Furthermore, my research will shed additional insight onto \textsuperscript{31}P nuclei quantum mechanical properties, specifically those found in Posner Clusters of molecular formula Ca\textsubscript{9}(PO\textsubscript{4})\textsubscript{6}, which are implicated to function as a platform for quantum computation in cognitive processes.

This dissertation will show with solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments that simple phosphate species including orthophosphates, pyrophosphates, and adenosine phosphates associate into dynamic assemblies in dilute aqueous solutions that are spectroscopically "dark”, highlighting a hitherto unreported property of phosphate's native state in biological solutions. This dissertation will also discuss solid state NMR spin counting experiments of calcium phosphate species at varying time points in their structural evolution that were vitrified at 100 K and show calcium phosphate prenucleation clusters with a minimum of five dipolar coupled \textsuperscript{31}P atoms. These results provide a novel basis for the characterization of nonclassical growth pathways and led to developments in freeze quench instrumentation, also showcased here.