Feasible and pure P₂O₅-CaO nanoglasses: An in-depth NMR study of synthesis for the modulation of the bioactive ion release

The use of bioactive glasses (e.g. silicates, phosphates, borates) has demonstrated to be an effective therapy for the restoration of bone fractures, wound healing and vascularization. Their partial dissolution towards the surrounding tissue has shown to trigger positive bioactive responses, without the necessity of using growth factors or cell therapy, which reduces money-costs, side effects and increases their translation to the clinics. However, bioactive glasses often need from stabilizers (e.g. SiO₄ ⁴⁻, Ti⁴⁺, Co²⁺, etc.) that are not highly abundant in the body and which metabolization is not fully understood. In this study, we were focused on synthesizing pure calcium phosphate glasses without the presence of such stabilizers. We combined a mixture of ethylphosphate and calcium 2-methoxyethoxide to synthesize nanoparticles with different compositions and degradability. Synthesis was followed by an in-depth nuclear magnetic resonance characterization, complemented with other techniques that helped us to correlate the chemical structure of the glasses with their physiochemical properties and reaction mechanism. After synthesis, the organically modified xerogel (i.e. calcium monoethylphosphate) was treated at 200 or 350 °C and its solubility was maintained and controlled due to the elimination of organics, increase of phosphate-calcium interactions and phosphate polycondensation. To the best of our knowledge, we are reporting the first sol-gel synthesis of binary (P₂O₅-CaO) calcium phosphate glass nanoparticles in terms of continuous polycondensated phosphate chains structure without the addition of extra ions. The main goal is to straightforward the synthesis, to get a safer metabolization and to modulate the bioactive ion release. Additionally, we shed light on the chemical structure, reaction mechanism and properties of calcium phosphate glasses with high calcium contents, which nowadays are poorly understood. Statement of Significance: The use of bioactive inorganic materials (i.e. bioactive ceramics, glass-ceramics and glasses) for biomedical applications is attractive due to their good integration with the host tissue without the necessity of adding exogenous cells or growth factors. In particular, degradable calcium phosphate glasses are completely resorbable, avoiding the retention in the body of the highly stable silica network of silicate glasses, and inducing a more controllable degradability than bioactive ceramics. However, most calcium phosphate glasses include the presence of stabilizers (e.g. Ti⁴⁺, Na⁺, Co²⁺), which metabolization is not fully understood and complicates their synthesis. The development of binary calcium phosphate glasses with controlled degradability reduces these limitations, offering a simple and completely metabolizable material with higher transfer to the clinics.