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Tsaregorodtsevite - Sold


Tsaregorodtsevite is an unusual amine aluminosilicate mineral. Pautov et al. (1993) named the mineral after Sergei Vasil'evich Tsaregorodtsev (1953-1986), expert collector of Uralian minerals, who discovered the species. Sherriff et al. (1997) studied the crystal structure, and noted that tsaregorodtsevite represents an idealized sodalite structure, with N(CH3)4 groups substituting for Na, and expanding out the silicate framework, a possibility predicted by Linus Pauling in 1930. This specimen features white cubo-octahedral crystals to 4 mm, formed on a fracture surface on schistose matrix. This was the first tetra-methyl amine mineral ever discovered. A curious biomineral!