Abelsonite
Template:Short description Template:Infobox mineral Abelsonite is a nickel porphyrin mineral with chemical formula C31H32N4Ni. It was discovered in 1969 in the U.S. State of Utah and described in 1975. The mineral is named after geochemist Philip H. Abelson. It is the only known crystalline geoporphyrin.
Description
Abelsonite is semitransparent and pink-purple, dark greyish purple, pale purplish red, or reddish brown in color.[1][2] The mineral occurs as thin laths or plates or small aggregates up to Template:Convert.[1] The mineral is soluble in benzene and acetone and is insoluble in water, dilute hydrochloric acid, and dilute nitric acid.Template:Sfn
Occurrence and formation
The mineral is known only from the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation.Template:Sfn It has been known from the Uinta Basin in Utah since its discovery and from the Piceance Basin in Colorado since 1985.Template:Sfn Abelsonite occurs in association with albite, analcime, dolomite, mica, orthoclase, pyrite, and quartz.[1]
Abelsonite is a secondary mineral that formed in fractures, vugs, and bedding planes of oil shale.[1]Template:Sfn The mineral probably formed from diagenesis of chlorophyll, likely chlorophyll a, which was transported as an aqueous solution into a favorable geologic setting. Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Alternative source are Methanogen Archea, where close compound is used in Cofactor F430 critical for methane production.
In 2003, abelsonite was fully synthesized for the first time.Template:Sfn
Structure
In 1989, abelsonite was the only known geoporphyrin to have a crystalline structure.Template:Sfn[lower-alpha 1] Most geoporphyrins occur as a series of homologues spanning a large range of carbon numbers.Template:Sfn The porphyrin which comprises abelsonite is common, but it does not usually occur in isolation from other porphyrins.Template:Sfn
The mineral is a deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin (DPEP), with nickel occupying the center of the porphyrin ring. Most of the mineral consists of a C31 porphyrin with small quantities of a C30 norisomer.Template:Sfn The mineral crystallizes in the triclinic crystal system.[1]
History
The mineral was first noted in 1969 in a core sample made by the Western Oil Shale Corporation in Uintah County, Utah.Template:Sfn It was described in 1975 in the journal Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs.[3] The mineral was named after Philip H. Abelson (1913–2004), a long-time editor of the journal Science,Template:Sfn for his work in organic geochemistry.Template:Sfn
Type specimens are held in The Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.[1]
See also
Notes
References
- Bibliography
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External links
Template:Sister project Template:Sister project
- Images of abelsonite from mindat.org
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