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Letter

Nature Materials 7, 775–779 (1 October 2008) | doi:10.1038/nmat2261

Highly compressed ammonia forms an ionic crystal

Chris J. Pickard & R. J. Needs

Ammonia is an important compound with many uses, such as in the manufacture of fertilizers, explosives and pharmaceuticals. As an archetypal hydrogen-bonded system, the properties of ammonia under pressure are of fundamental interest, and compressed ammonia has a significant role in planetary physics.