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Sulfoborite mineral

Sulfoborite is a grandfathered magnesium borate-sulfate mineral listed as Mg3[B(OH)4]2(SO4)(OH,F)2 in the September 2026 IMA-CNMNC list. The list's 1893 entry is a description year, not an approval identifier. Giese and Penna's 1983 single-crystal X-ray study of a natural Westeregeln specimen produced an orthorhombic Pnma structural model with octahedral magnesium, tetrahedral boron and sulfur, hydroxyl groups and a separate fluorine site. Their ideal Mg3[B(OH)4]2(SO4)(OH)F formula and absence of molecular water are conclusions from that structure; they did not chemically analyze the measured crystal. The current species formula's variable OH/F notation is retained rather than replaced with a universally fixed composition. Detailed hydrogen-bond assignments remain qualified by a later neutron study whose complete original was not accessible in this session. This identity record asserts no extraction, transformation or recovery mechanism, industrial deployment or criticality designation. The mineral is distinct from elemental boron, magnesium metal and bulk borate commodities.

Sources & References

  1. ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC, The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026: PDF page 208, Sulfoborite row, Mg3[B(OH)4]2(SO4)(OH,F)2, grandfathered status G and year 1893; page 1 explains status and description-year semantics. Fresh official list checked on 16 October 2026.
    https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-16)
  2. giese_penna1983: Giese and Penna (1983), The crystal structure of sulfoborite, Mg3SO4(B(OH)4)2(OH)F, American Mineralogist 68, 255-261. Complete seven-page society-hosted original: Westeregeln Royal Ontario Museum specimen M6918, approximately 0.2-mm fragment and Mo K-alpha diffraction p. 256; refinement and atomic positions p. 257/Table 1; thermal parameters Table 2 p. 258; Figures 1-3 pp. 259-260; lack of chemistry for the actual crystal explicitly p. 260. Separately deposited structure factors, Table 3/document AM82-212, were not acquired. The paper's hydrogen-bond interpretation is historical, not an established universal absence of additional weak hydrogen bonds.
    https://msaweb.org/AmMin/AM68/AM68_255.pdf (accessed 2026-10-16)
  3. gatta2026_access_limit: Gatta et al. (2026), Hydrogen-bonding network in complex borates: a neutron diffraction study of sulfoborite, Mg3[B(OH)4]2(SO4)(OH)F, DOI 10.2138/am-2025-10169. Edinburgh repository metadata and abstract, early online 28 April 2026, verified against Crossref. The abstract describes a more extensive hydrogen-bond network than the 1983 account. Both the linked accepted manuscript and publisher PDF returned HTTP403 during this session; the complete methods, figures, chemical table and supplements were not reviewed, so no new quantitative neutron or chemical result is admitted from the abstract. This source documents the unresolved later-study boundary only.
    https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/hydrogen-bonding-network-in-complex-borates-a-neutron-diffraction/ (accessed 2026-10-16)

Curation History

Timestamp Curator Action Summary
2026-10-16T04:26:58.245856Z codex (GPT-6; codex) CREATE Created a distinct sulfoborite identity record from official nomenclature and complete original structure evidence; preserved composition and later-primary access limits.

Record source: data/records/sulfoborite.yaml