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Martinez-Bachs B, Anguera-Gonzalez A, Pareras G, Rimola A. Formation of Methanol via Fischer-Tropsch Catalysis by Cosmic Iron Sulphide. Chemphyschem 2024; 25:e202400272. [PMID: 38805153 DOI: 10.1002/cphc.202400272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 05/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Chemical reactions in the gas phase of the interstellar medium face significant challenges due to its extreme conditions (i. e., low gas densities and temperatures), necessitating the presence of dust grains to facilitate the synthesis of molecules inaccessible in the gas phase. While interstellar grains are known to enhance encounter rates and dissipate energy from exothermic reactions, their potential as chemical catalysts remain less explored. Here, we present mechanistic insights into the Fischer-Tropsch-type methanol (FTT-CH3OH) synthesis by reactivity of CO with H2 and using cosmic FeS surfaces as heterogeneous catalysts. Periodic quantum chemical calculations were employed to characterize the potential energy surface of the reactions on the (011) and (001) FeS surfaces, considering different Fe coordination environments and S vacancies. Kinetic calculations were also conducted to assess catalytic capacity and allocate reaction processes within the astrochemical framework. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of FeS-based astrocatalysis in the FTT-CH3OH synthesis. The reactions and their energetics were elucidated from a mechanistic standpoint. Kinetic analysis demonstrates the temperature dependency of the simulated processes, underscoring the compulsory need of energy sources considering the astrophysical scenario. Our results provide insights into the presence of CH3OH in diverse regions where current models struggle to explain its observational quantity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Berta Martinez-Bachs
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Alexia Anguera-Gonzalez
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Gerard Pareras
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Albert Rimola
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
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Rimola A, Balucani N, Ceccarelli C, Ugliengo P. Tracing the Primordial Chemical Life of Glycine: A Review from Quantum Chemical Simulations. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:4252. [PMID: 35457069 PMCID: PMC9030215 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23084252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Glycine (Gly), NH2CH2COOH, is the simplest amino acid. Although it has not been directly detected in the interstellar gas-phase medium, it has been identified in comets and meteorites, and its synthesis in these environments has been simulated in terrestrial laboratory experiments. Likewise, condensation of Gly to form peptides in scenarios resembling those present in a primordial Earth has been demonstrated experimentally. Thus, Gly is a paradigmatic system for biomolecular building blocks to investigate how they can be synthesized in astrophysical environments, transported and delivered by fragments of asteroids (meteorites, once they land on Earth) and comets (interplanetary dust particles that land on Earth) to the primitive Earth, and there react to form biopolymers as a step towards the emergence of life. Quantum chemical investigations addressing these Gly-related events have been performed, providing fundamental atomic-scale information and quantitative energetic data. However, they are spread in the literature and difficult to harmonize in a consistent way due to different computational chemistry methodologies and model systems. This review aims to collect the work done so far to characterize, at a quantum mechanical level, the chemical life of Gly, i.e., from its synthesis in the interstellar medium up to its polymerization on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albert Rimola
- Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Catalonia, Spain
| | - Nadia Balucani
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Perugia, Via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123 Perugia, Italy;
- Osservatorio Astrosico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
| | - Cecilia Ceccarelli
- CNRS, Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, France;
| | - Piero Ugliengo
- Dipartimento di Chimica and Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces (NIS) Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino, Italy;
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Bilalbegović G, Maksimović A, Valencic LA, Lehtola S. Sulfur Molecules in Space by X-rays: A Computational Study. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2021; 5:436-448. [PMID: 33842801 PMCID: PMC8028330 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2020] [Revised: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
X-ray astronomy lacks high resolution spectra of interstellar dust analogues and molecules, severely hampering interstellar medium studies based on upcoming X-ray missions. Various theoretical approaches may be used to address this problem, but they must first be shown to reproduce reliable spectra compared to the experiment. In this work, we calculate the sulfur K edge X-ray absorption spectra of H2S, SO2, and OCS, whose spectra are already known from X-ray experiments and predict the X-ray spectrum of CS, which as far as we are aware has not been measured, thereby hampering its detection by X-ray telescopes. We chose these four molecules as the astrochemistry of sulfur is an unsolved problem and as the four molecules are already known to exist in space. We consider three types of methods for modeling the X-ray spectra: more accurate calculations with the algebraic-diagrammatic construction (ADC) and the CC2, CCSD, and CC3 coupled cluster (CC) approaches as well as more affordable ones with transition potential density functional theory (TP-DFT). A comparison of our computational results to previously reported experimental spectra shows that the core-valence separation (CVS) approaches CVS-ADC(2)-x and CVS-CC3 generally yield a good qualitative level of agreement with the experiment, suggesting that they can be used for interpreting measured spectra, while the TP-DFT method is not reliable for these molecules. However, quantitative agreement with the experiment is still outside the reach of the computational methods studied in this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Goranka Bilalbegović
- Department
of Physics, Faculty of Science, University
of Zagreb, Bijenička
cesta 32, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Aleksandar Maksimović
- Center
of Excellence for Advanced Materials and Sensing Devices, Rudjer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Lynne A. Valencic
- NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 20771 Maryland, United States
- Department
of Physics & Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins
University, 366 Bloomberg
Center, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, 21218 Maryland, United States
| | - Susi Lehtola
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 55, A. I. Virtasen aukio
1, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
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Doddipatla S, He C, Kaiser RI, Luo Y, Sun R, Galimova GR, Mebel AM, Millar TJ. A chemical dynamics study on the gas phase formation of thioformaldehyde (H 2CS) and its thiohydroxycarbene isomer (HCSH). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:22712-22719. [PMID: 32859759 PMCID: PMC7502777 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2004881117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Complex organosulfur molecules are ubiquitous in interstellar molecular clouds, but their fundamental formation mechanisms have remained largely elusive. These processes are of critical importance in initiating a series of elementary chemical reactions, leading eventually to organosulfur molecules-among them potential precursors to iron-sulfide grains and to astrobiologically important molecules, such as the amino acid cysteine. Here, we reveal through laboratory experiments, electronic-structure theory, quasi-classical trajectory studies, and astrochemical modeling that the organosulfur chemistry can be initiated in star-forming regions via the elementary gas-phase reaction of methylidyne radicals with hydrogen sulfide, leading to thioformaldehyde (H2CS) and its thiohydroxycarbene isomer (HCSH). The facile route to two of the simplest organosulfur molecules via a single-collision event affords persuasive evidence for a likely source of organosulfur molecules in star-forming regions. These fundamental reaction mechanisms are valuable to facilitate an understanding of the origin and evolution of the molecular universe and, in particular, of sulfur in our Galaxy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chao He
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822
| | - Ralf I Kaiser
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822;
| | - Yuheng Luo
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822
| | - Rui Sun
- Department of Chemistry, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822;
| | - Galiya R Galimova
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199
| | - Alexander M Mebel
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199;
| | - Tom J Millar
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
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Iron whiskers on asteroid Itokawa indicate sulfide destruction by space weathering. Nat Commun 2020; 11:1117. [PMID: 32111821 PMCID: PMC7048718 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14758-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Extraterrestrial iron sulfide is a major mineral reservoir of the cosmochemically and astrobiologically important elements iron and sulfur. Sulfur depletion on asteroids is a long-standing, yet unresolved phenomenon that is of fundamental importance for asteroid evolution and sulfur delivery to the Earth. Understanding the chemistry of such environments requires insight into the behavior of iron sulfides exposed to space. Here we show that troilite (FeS) grains recovered from the regolith of asteroid 25143 Itokawa have lost sulfur during long-term space exposure. We report the wide-spread occurrence of metallic iron whiskers as a decomposition product formed through irradiation of the sulfide by energetic ions of the solar wind. Whisker growth by ion irradiation is a novel and unexpected aspect of space weathering. It implies that sulfur loss occurs rapidly and, furthermore, that ion irradiation plays an important role in the redistribution of sulfur between solids and gas of the interstellar medium.
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High-resolution SOFIA/EXES Spectroscopy of SO 2 Gas in the Massive Young Stellar Object MonR2 IRS3: Implications for the Sulfur Budget. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 868. [PMID: 30778373 DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaeda9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Sulfur has been observed to be severely depleted in dense clouds leading to uncertainty in the molecules that contain it and the chemistry behind their evolution. Here, we aim to shed light on the sulfur chemistry in young stellar objects (YSOs) by using high-resolution infrared spectroscopy of absorption by the ν 3 rovibrational band of SO2 obtained with the Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph on the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Using local thermodynamic equilibrium models we derive physical parameters for the SO2 gas in the massive YSO MonR2 IRS3. This yields a SO2/H abundance lower limit of 5.6 ± 0.5 × 10-7, or >4% of the cosmic sulfur budget, and an intrinsic line width (Doppler parameter) of b < 3.20 km s-1. The small line widths and high temperature (T ex = 234 ± 15 K) locate the gas in a relatively quiescent region near the YSO, presumably in the hot core where ices have evaporated. This sublimation unlocks a volatile sulfur reservoir (e.g., sulfur allotropes as detected abundantly in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko), which is followed by SO2 formation by warm, dense gas-phase chemistry. The narrowness of the lines makes formation of SO2 from sulfur sputtered off grains in shocks less likely toward MonR2 IRS3.
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Koulialias D, Canévet E, Charilaou M, Weidler PG, Löffler JF, Gehring AU. The relation between local structural distortion and the low-temperature magnetic anomaly in Fe 7S 8. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2018; 30:425803. [PMID: 30187891 DOI: 10.1088/1361-648x/aadf54] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Structural defects on an atomic level can crucially impact the magnetic properties of a material. We study this phenomenon by means of magnetometry and powder neutron diffraction on a stoichiometric, monoclinic pyrrhotite (Fe7S8), which is a classic omission structure with a magnetic anomaly at about 30 K. The initial structural distortion of the pyrrhotite at 300 K caused by the vacancy arrangement decreases upon cooling, and simultaneous to the magnetic anomaly the anisotropic contraction of the unit cell homogenizes the covalency of the Fe-Fe bonds with lengths less than 3.0 Å and the Fe-S-Fe bond angles. These changes on the atomic level affect the spin-orbit coupling and the super-exchange interactions in Fe7S8, and trigger the low-temperature magnetic anomaly within a crystallographically stable system.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Koulialias
- Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Laboratory of Metal Physics and Technology, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
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Wooden DH, Ishii HA, Zolensky ME. Cometary dust: the diversity of primitive refractory grains. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2017; 375:20160260. [PMID: 28554979 PMCID: PMC5454228 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2016.0260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/13/2017] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Comet dust is primitive and shows significant diversity. Our knowledge of the properties of primitive cometary particles has expanded significantly through microscale investigations of cosmic dust samples (anhydrous interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), chondritic porous (CP) IDPs and UltraCarbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites, Stardust and Rosetta), as well as through remote sensing (Spitzer IR spectroscopy). Comet dust are aggregate particles of materials unequilibrated at submicrometre scales. We discuss the properties and processes experienced by primitive matter in comets. Primitive particles exhibit a diverse range of: structure and typology; distribution of constituents; concentration and form of carbonaceous and refractory organic matter; Mg- and Fe-contents of the silicate minerals; sulfides; existence/abundance of type II chondrule fragments; high-temperature calcium-aluminium inclusions and ameboid-olivine aggregates; and rarely occurring Mg-carbonates and magnetite, whose explanation requires aqueous alteration on parent bodies. The properties of refractory materials imply there were disc processes that resulted in different comets having particular selections of primitive materials. The diversity of primitive particles has implications for the diversity of materials in the protoplanetary disc present at the time and in the region where the comets formed.This article is part of the themed issue 'Cometary science after Rosetta'.
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Affiliation(s)
- D H Wooden
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001, USA
| | - H A Ishii
- University of Hawaii, Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
| | - M E Zolensky
- NASA Johnson Space Center, ARES, X12 2010 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058-3607, USA
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Nanoscale infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive probe of extraterrestrial samples. Nat Commun 2014; 5:5445. [PMID: 25487365 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2014] [Accepted: 10/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Advances in the spatial resolution of modern analytical techniques have tremendously augmented the scientific insight gained from the analysis of natural samples. Yet, while techniques for the elemental and structural characterization of samples have achieved sub-nanometre spatial resolution, infrared spectral mapping of geochemical samples at vibrational 'fingerprint' wavelengths has remained restricted to spatial scales >10 μm. Nevertheless, infrared spectroscopy remains an invaluable contactless probe of chemical structure, details of which offer clues to the formation history of minerals. Here we report on the successful implementation of infrared near-field imaging, spectroscopy and analysis techniques capable of sub-micron scale mineral identification within natural samples, including a chondrule from the Murchison meteorite and a cometary dust grain (Iris) from NASA's Stardust mission. Complementary to scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy probes, this work evidences a similarity between chondritic and cometary materials, and inaugurates a new era of infrared nano-spectroscopy applied to small and invaluable extraterrestrial samples.
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11
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Martin MC, Schade U, Lerch P, Dumas P. Recent applications and current trends in analytical chemistry using synchrotron-based Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy. Trends Analyt Chem 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2010.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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12
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McGuinness ET. Some Molecular Moments of the Hadean and Archaean Aeons: A Retrospective Overview from the Interfacing Years of the Second to Third Millennia. Chem Rev 2010; 110:5191-215. [DOI: 10.1021/cr050061l] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Eugene T. McGuinness
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey 07079-2690
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Miller LM, Smith RJ, Carr GL. Technical Report: The Diversity of Infrared Programs at the NSLS. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007. [DOI: 10.1080/08940880701631369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Lisse CM, Vancleve J, Adams AC, A'hearn MF, Fernández YR, Farnham TL, Armus L, Grillmair CJ, Ingalls J, Belton MJS, Groussin O, McFadden LA, Meech KJ, Schultz PH, Clark BC, Feaga LM, Sunshine JM. Spitzer Spectral Observations of the Deep Impact Ejecta. Science 2006; 313:635-40. [PMID: 16840662 DOI: 10.1126/science.1124694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 260] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Spitzer Space Telescope imaging spectrometer observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 during the Deep Impact encounter returned detailed, highly structured, 5- to 35-micrometer spectra of the ejecta. Emission signatures due to amorphous and crystalline silicates, amorphous carbon, carbonates, phyllosilicates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, water gas and ice, and sulfides were found. Good agreement is seen between the ejecta spectra and the material emitted from comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) and the circumstellar material around the young stellar object HD100546. The atomic abundance of the observed material is consistent with solar and C1 chondritic abundances, and the dust-to-gas ratio was determined to be greater than or equal to 1.3. The presence of the observed mix of materials requires efficient methods of annealing amorphous silicates and mixing of high- and low-temperature phases over large distances in the early protosolar nebula.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Lisse
- Planetary Exploration Group, Space Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA
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Facelli JM, Chesson P, Barnes N. DIFFERENCES IN SEED BIOLOGY OF ANNUAL PLANTS IN ARID LANDS: A KEY INGREDIENT OF THE STORAGE EFFECT. Ecology 2005. [DOI: 10.1890/05-0304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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16
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Lanzirotti A, Miller LM. Imaging and microspectroscopy at the national synchrotron light source. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2002. [DOI: 10.1080/08940880208602985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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