Infrared spectroscopy in research of clay mineralogy and soil chemistry: A tribute to pioneers and an extended frontier in the context of biomolecules synthesis

Clay mineralogists and soil chemists have demonstrated that infrared (IR) spectroscopy could be effectively used to describe many structural aspects of clay minerals and properly interpret many soil chemical reactions. The objective of this paper is two-fold. The first is to highlight the perspectives of some jointly relevant early research utilizing IR spectroscopy to give well-deserved credit to V. C. Farmer and J. J. Fripiat as distinguished pioneers. The second is to outline an extended frontier to clay mineralogists and soil chemists to join scientists of parallel disciplines investigating the role of clay minerals in the synthesis of biomolecules, in the endeavor of searching for the origin of life.