Organic mineral
An organic mineral is an organic compound in mineral form. An organic compound is any compound containing carbon, aside from some simple ones discovered before 1828. There are three classes of organic mineral: hydrocarbons (containing just hydrogen and carbon), salts of organic acids, and miscellaneous. Organic minerals are rare, and tend to have specialized settings such as fossilized cacti and bat guano. Mineralogists have used statistical models to predict that there are more undiscovered organic mineral species than known ones.
Definition
In general, an organic compound is defined as any compound containing carbon, but some compounds are excepted for historical reasons. Before 1828, chemists thought that organic and inorganic compounds were fundamentally different, with the former requiring a vital force that could only come from living organisms. Then Friedrich Wöhler synthesized urea by heating an inorganic substance called ammonium cyanate, proving that organic compounds could also be created through an inorganic process. Nevertheless, carbon-containing compounds that were already classified as inorganic were not reclassified. These include carbides, simple oxides of carbon such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, carbonates, cyanides and elemental carbon minerals such as graphite and diamond.[1][2]
Organic minerals are rare and difficult to find, often forming crusts on fractures.[1][2] Early descriptions of organic minerals include mellite in 1793, humboldtine in 1821 and idrialite in 1832.[1][2]
Types
In the proposed 10th edition of the
Hydrocarbons
As the name implies, hydrocarbon minerals are composed entirely of carbon and hydrogen. Some are inorganic forms of
Salts of organic acids
A salt of an organic acid is a compound in which an organic acid is combined with a
Other salts include salts of
Miscellaneous
Some organic minerals do not fall into the above categories. These include nickel
Carbon Mineral Challenge
As of 2016, the IMA recognized ten hydrocarbon minerals, ten miscellaneous organic minerals, 21 oxalates and over 24 other salts of organic acids.
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 9781285415390.
- ^ ISBN 9781316425282.
- ^ doi:10.1127/0935-1221/2009/0021-1994. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
- Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ PMID 28852091.
- ^ ISBN 9780323149037.
- ^ . Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ^ "Joanneumite". mindat.org. Hudson Institute of Mineralogy. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
- ^ Barthelmy, David. "Amber Mineral Data". Mineralogy database. webmineral.com. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
- ISBN 9780199548262.
- ^ Wilson, Elizabeth K. "Worldwide Hunt Begins for Missing Carbon Minerals". Scientific American. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
Further reading
- Blumer, Max (March 1976). "Polycyclic aromatic compounds in nature". Scientific American. 234 (3): 35–45. JSTOR 24950303.
- Hazen, R. M.; Downs, R. T.; Kah, L.; Sverjensky, D. (13 February 2013). "Carbon Mineral Evolution". Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry. 75 (1): 79–107. .