Bioastrophysical Aspects of Low Energy Ion Irradiation of Frozen Anthracene Containing Water

Abstract

The origin of life on Earth remains a fascinating mystery in spite of many theories existing on this subject. However, it seems that simple prebiotic molecules could play an essential role in the formation of more complex organisms. In our experiment, we synthesized a class of these molecules (quinones) bombarding frozen anthracene containing water with low energy hydrogen ions. This experiment roughly simulated the astrophysical conditions which one can find in the solar system. Thus, we can hypothesize that prebiotic molecules could be created by interaction of the solar wind with interplanetary dust grains. The delivery of these molecules to early Earth may have contributed to the generation of life on our planet.

Photochemistry of coronene with water at 10 K: first tentative identification by infrared spectroscopy of oxygen containing coronene products

“…30 Thus, a rich and complex photochemistry takes place in these grains, as shown by many laboratory studies carried out on the photolysis of interstellar ice analogs containing simple molecules such as CO, NH 3 , CH 3 OH 31 or PAHs. [32][33][34][35][36] Photoprocessing of these water-dominant ices containing PAHs as, for instance, naphthalene (C 10 H 8 ) 32 or anthracene 33,37 has also been studied and has seen the formation of substituted PAHs such as alcohols, ethers, ketones and quinones. Similar results have been reported by Bernstein and co-workers for a larger PAH, coronene C 24 H 12 , considered as the PAH model system for astrophysical purposes.…”

Raman spectroscopy of ion‐irradiated astrophysically relevant materials

“…28,29 The bioastrophysical aspects of low-energy (3.5 keV He C ) ion irradiation of frozen anthracene containing water have been outlined, confirming the formation of quinones. 30 The formation of carbon-carbon bonds after photochemical alkylation of PAHs and alkanes in solution, thin films in contact with liquid water, and icy matrices has also been observed. 31 In Fig.…”

Slow ion irradiation of sugar: astrobiological implications

“…The existence of such molecules in cosmic space was the motivation to extend our earlier investigations (concerning the interaction of low-energy ions with organic matter (Tuleta et al 2001(Tuleta et al , 2005) to this class of molecules. To this end we examined a surface of saccharose irradiated by slow ions in the laboratory.…”

“…The present experiment simulates roughly the interaction of solar wind protons with interplanetary dust grains (Tuleta et al 2001) containing molecules of sugars. The surviving fraction of iterant bacteria could be significantly enhanced in this manner.…”