Freitalite, C₁₄H₁₀, a new aromatic hydrocarbon mineral from Freital, Saxony, Germany

Abstract

The new mineral species freitalite, C14H10, corresponding to the aromatic hydrocarbon anthracene, has been discovered on the mine dump of the Königin Carola shaft (also named Paul Berndt Mine), Freital, near Dresden, Saxony, Germany. The mineral forms thin blades or flakes of irregular shape up to a few millimetres in size and shows an intense violet or whitish-violet to white colour. Freitalite is a product of pyrolysis of coal at low oxygen fugacity and was formed by sublimation from a gas phase. The mineral is associated with sulfur and hoelite. Elemental analysis gave (in wt. %, average of three analyses) C 94.07, H 5.571 and total 99.641. The empirical formula is C14.00H9.88 (calculated for C = 14). The identity with anthracene was confirmed by infrared and Raman spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, 1H and 13C NMR spectrometry, and X-ray powder diffraction. Freitalite is monoclinic, P21∕a, with lattice parameters a=8.5572(9), b=6.0220(5), c=11.173(1) Å, β=124.174(1)∘ and V=476.34(3) Å3 refined from powder data. The calculated density of 1.242 g cm−3 (for Z=2) is very close to the measured density of 1.240 g cm−3. Freitalite was accepted as a new mineral by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA 2019-116).