Simonellite
Chemical compound
Simonellite (1,1-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-7-isopropyl phenanthrene) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with a chemical formula C19H24. It is similar to retene.
Simonellite occurs naturally as an organic mineral derived from diterpenes present in conifer resins. It is named after its discoverer, Vittorio Simonelli (1860-1929), an Italian geologist. It forms colorless to white orthorhombic crystals. It occurs in Fognano, Tuscany, Italy.
Simonellite, together with cadalene, retene and ip-iHMN, is a biomarker of higher plants, which makes it useful for paleobotanic analysis of rock sediments.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Simonellite”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Simonellite.png by Shaddack, Public domain
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