Ammineite is the first recognized mineral containing ammine groups. Its formula is
uCl2(NH3)2 The mineral is chemically pure. It was found in a
guano
Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
deposit in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
.
[ At the same site other ammine-containing minerals were later found:][Mindat, Shilovite, http://www.mindat.org/min-46139.html]
* Chanabayaite
Chanabayaite is the first recognized triazolate mineral, having the formula .
Minor iron admixture is also present. It is also one of a few currently known minerals containing ammine groups, including also ammineite, joanneumite and shilovite. All ...
, CuCl(N3C2H2)(NH3)·0.25H2O (an alternative formula), a triazolate mineral
* Joanneumite
Joanneumite, confirmed as a new mineral in 2012, is the first recognized isocyanurate mineral, with the formula Cu(C3N3O3H2)2(NH3)2. It is also an ammine-containing mineral, a feature shared with ammineite, chanabayaite and shilovite. All the miner ...
, Cu(C3N3O3H2)2(NH3)2, an isocyanurate
Cyanuric acid or 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triol is a chemical compound with the formula (CNOH)3. Like many industrially useful chemicals, this triazine has many synonyms. This white, odorless solid finds use as a precursor or a component of bleaches ...
mineral
* Shilovite, Cu(NH3)4(NO3)2
Crystal structure
The characteristic features of the structure of ammineite are:[
* layers of trans form of the copper complex, parallel to (001), connected by Cu-Cl bonds
* presence of CuN2Cl4 distorted octahedron ( +2coordination)
* edge-sharing of the octahedra produce zigzag chains along the 01direction
* hydrogen bonds between NH3 and Cl atoms
]
Associated minerals
Ammineite coexists with atacamite
Atacamite is a copper halide mineral: a copper(II) chloride hydroxide with formula Cu2Cl(OH)3. It was first described for deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile in 1801 by D. de Fallizen. The Atacama Desert is also the namesake of the mineral.
...
, darapskite, halite
Halite (), commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride ( Na Cl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, p ...
and salammoniac.[
]
Origin
Ammineite is supposed to be a result of an interaction of an earlier copper mineral, likely from a plutonic rock, with ammonia in guano. Ammonia may be produced in decomposition of compounds like urea
Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid.
Urea serves an important r ...
or uric acid.[
]
References
{{reflist
Copper(II) minerals
Orthorhombic minerals
Minerals in space group 63
Minerals described in 2010