Production and Characterization of Oxyhydroxyapatites

The amount and alignment of hydroxyl ions influence the bioactivity of hydroxyapatite. Hydroxyl ions in hydroxyapatite are the most mobile and upon heating are the first to leave the lattice to form oxyhydroxyapatite. This work describes a method for producing hydroxyapatite with different amounts of hydroxyl ions, and reports on the changes in Fourier transform infrared absorption at increasing level of dehydroxylation. Detailed analysis of spectra in the 500 – 700 cm-1 range showed a peak shift for the hydroxyl ion absorption line at 632 cm-1 to 637 cm-1 and an increase in the wavenumber for the phosphate line at 575 cm-1.