| Abstract
| - The luminous infrared-loud quasar IRAS 13349+2438 was observed with the XMM-Newton Observatory as part of the Performance Verification program. The spectrum obtained by the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) exhibits broad ( $v \sim 1400 \rm{km s}^{-1}$ FWHM) absorption lines from highly ionized elements including hydrogen- and helium-like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neon, and several iron L-shell ions (Fe xvii-xx). Also shown in the spectrum is the first astrophysical detection of a broad absorption feature around $\lambda = 16 {-} 17 $Åidentified as an unresolved transition array (UTA) of 2p-3d inner-shell absorption by iron M-shell ions in a much cooler medium; a feature that might be misidentified as an O vii edge when observed with moderate resolution spectrometers. No absorption edges are clearly detected in the spectrum. We demonstrate that the RGS spectrum of IRAS 13349+2438 exhibits absorption lines from at least two distinct regions, one of which is tentatively associated with the medium that produces the optical/UV reddening.
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