Cometary nuclei contain the least modified material from the formative epoch of our planetary system, and their compositions reflect a range of processes experienced by material prior to its incorporation in the cometary nucleus. Dynamical models suggest that icy bodies in the main cometary reservoirs (Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud) formed in a range of environments in the protoplanetary disk, and (for the Oort Cloud) even in disks surrounding neighboring stars of the Sun's birth cluster. Photometric and spectroscopic surveys of more than 100 comets have enabled taxonomic groupings based on free radical species and on crystallinity of rocky grains. Since 1985, new surveys have provided emerging taxonomies based on the abundance ratios of primary volatiles. More than 20 primary chemical species are now detected in bright comets. Measurements of nuclear spin ratios (in water, ammonia, and methane) and of isotopic ratios (D/H in water and HCN; 14N/15N in CN and HCN) have provided critical insights on factors affecting formation of the primary species. The identification of an abundant product species (HNC) has provided clear evidence of chemical production in the inner coma. Parallel advances have occurred in astrochemistry of hot corinos, circumstellar disks, and dense cloud cores. In this review, we address the current state of cometary taxonomy and compare it with current astrochemical insights.

▪ Abstract  Our understanding of the evolution of organic molecules, and their voyage from molecular clouds to the early solar system and Earth, has changed dramatically. Incorporating recent observational results from the ground and space, as well as laboratory simulation experiments and new methods for theoretical modeling, this review recapitulates the inventory and distribution of organic molecules in different environments. The evolution, survival, transport, and transformation of organics is monitored, from molecular clouds and the diffuse interstellar medium to their incorporation into solar system material such as comets and meteorites. We constrain gas phase and grain surface formation pathways to organic molecules in dense interstellar clouds, using recent observations with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and ground-based radiotelescopes. The main spectroscopic evidence for carbonaceous compounds in the diffuse interstellar medium is discussed (UV bump at 2200 Å, diffuse interstellar bands, extended red emission, and infrared absorption and emission bands). We critically review the signatures and unsolved problemsrelated to the main organic components suggested to be present in the diffuse gas, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fullerenes, diamonds, and carbonaceous solids. We also briefly discuss the circumstellar formation of organics around late-typestars. In the solar system, space missions to comet Halley and observations of the bright comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp have recently allowed a reexamination of the organic chemistry of dust and volatiles in long-period comets. We review the advances in this area and also discuss progress being made in elucidating the complex organic inventory of carbonaceous meteorites. The knowledge of organic chemistry in molecular clouds, comets, and meteorites and their common link provides constraints for the processes that lead to the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Galaxy.

We have searched for interstellar conformer I glycine (NH 2 CH 2 COOH), the simplest amino acid, in the hot molecular cores Sgr B2(N-LMH), Orion KL, and W51 e1/e2. An improved search strategy for intrinsically weak molecular lines, involving multisource observations, has been developed and implemented. In total, 82 spectral frequency bands, in the millimeter-wave region, were observed over a 4 yr period; 27 glycine lines were detected in 19 different spectral bands in one or more sources. The rotational temperatures derived from '' rotation diagrams '' are 75 þ29

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