Evidence for Extraterrestrial Amino-acids and Hydrocarbons in the Murchison Meteorite

Kvenvolden, Keith A.; Lawless, James G.; Pering, Katherine; Peterson, Etta; Flores, José Juan Alvarado; Ponnamperuma, Cyril; Kaplan, I. R.; Moore, C. B.

doi:10.1038/228923a0

Cited by 798 publications

(446 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Numerous tentative detections of interstellar glycine have been reported but its identification has not yet been confirmed (Kuan et al 2003;Snyder et al 2005). Meteoritic glycine has been identified in both CM-and CI-type carbonaceous chondrites such as Murchison, Murray, Orgeuil, and Ivuna by using highly sensitive analytical techniques (Kvenvolden et al 1970;Cronin & Pizzarello 1997;Lawless 1972;Ehrenfreund et al 2001a;Botta & Bada 2002). In cometary coma, approximately 25 molecules have been detected by radio astronomy (Crovisier et al 1998;Bockelée-Morvan et al 2000;Despois 1999;Irvine et al 2000), but not glycine (Ehrenfreund et al 2002;Crovisier et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methylammonium methylcarbamate thermal formation in interstellar ice analogs: a glycine salt precursor in protostellar environments

Bossa¹,

Duvernay²,

Theulé³

et al. 2009

A&A

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Context. Analyses of dust cometary grains collected by the Stardust spacecraft have shown the presence of amines and amino acids molecules, and among them glycine (NH 2 CH 2 COOH). We show how the glycine molecule could be produced in the protostellar environments before its introduction into comets. Aims. We study the evolution of the interstellar ice analogues affected by both thermal heating and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons, in addition to the nature of the formed molecules and the confrontation of our experimental results with astronomical observations. Methods. Infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry are used to monitor the evolution of the H 2 O:CO 2 :CH 3 NH 2 and CO 2 :CH 3 NH 2 ice mixtures during both warming processes and VUV photolysis. Results. We first show how carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methylamine (CH 3 NH 2 ) thermally react in water-dominated ice to form methylammonium methylcarbamate [CH 3 NH + 3 ][CH 3 NHCOO − ] noted C. We then determine the reaction rate and activation energy. We show that C thermal formation can occurs in the 50-70 K temperature range of a protostellar environment. Secondly, we report that a VUV photolysis of a pure C sample produces a glycine salt, methylammonium glycinate [CH 3 NH + 3 ][NH 2 CH 2 COO − ] noted G. We propose a scenario explaining how C and subsequently G can be synthesized in interstellar ices and precometary grains. Conclusions. [CH 3 NH + 3 ][CH 3 NHCOO − ] could be readily formed and would act as a glycine salt precursor in protostellar environments dominated by thermal and UV processing. We propose a new pathway leading to a glycine salt, which is consistent with the detection of glycine and methylamine within the returned samples of comet 81P/Wild 2 from the Stardust mission.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methylammonium methylcarbamate thermal formation in interstellar ice analogs: a glycine salt precursor in protostellar environments

Bossa¹,

Duvernay²,

Theulé³

et al. 2009

A&A

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“…Organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites can be spread in an insoluble macromolecule [15] and a complex suite of soluble organic molecules [16,17]. The total organic content may reach 4 wt.% in some chondrites, with the macromolecular carbon representing more than 75 wt.%.…”

Section: Diversity Of Organic Compounds In Meteoritesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As recently shown [18], the soluble organic content in carbonaceous chondrites is very diverse. The use of very high mass resolution techniques revealed the occurrence of 14,000 different molecules, containing C, H, O, N and S. These molecules can be divided into several classes (see figure 1), including sugar derivatives [19], amino acids [17] and nucleobases [20] being potential metabolic reactants and genetic information recorders. The most abundant soluble compounds in Murchison are carboxylic acids (330 ppm [16]).…”

Section: Diversity Of Organic Compounds In Meteoritesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic material in meteorites and the link to the origin of life

Rémusat

2014

BIO Web of Conferences

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Abstract. Life requires specific conditions that have been, so far, only proven to meet on Earth. Though the chemical elements required to form living organism (C, H, N, O, S, etc) are widespread in the universe, the molecules that are crucial for Life, like nucleobases or amino acids, may not be so ubiquitous. The question of the formation of small and complex molecules is highly relevant to understand the process of Life origin. Carbonaceous chondrites are a class of meteorites rich in organic compounds and host potential precursors for the emergence of Life (organic matter and water). They could have been the source of complex molecules on the early Earth. This contribution will describe the main properties of the organic matter recovered from carbonaceous chondrites. However, the isotopic and molecular record of organic compounds is faded by secondary processes that occurred on the parent body of these meteorites. This results in complex signatures that raise multiple questions about the origin of organic compounds in the Solar System.

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“…A wide variety of organic compounds have been detected in extracts from carbonaceous chondrites, including amino acids (Kvenvolden et al 1970) together with unidentified complex organic compounds. Organic globules were found in Tagish Lake meteorite, and isotopic ratio of the carbon suggested that these organic compounds were formed at quite low temperature (10-20 K) (Nakamura-Messenger et al 2006).…”

Section: Organic Compounds In Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of amino acid precursors with large molecular weight in dense clouds and their relevance to origins of bio-homochirality

Kobayashi¹,

Kaneko²,

Takano³

et al. 2008

Proc. IAU

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Abstract.A wide variety of organic compounds have been found in carbonaceous chondrites and comets, which suggests that extraterrestrial organic compounds could have been an important source of the first terrestrial biosphere. In the Greenberg model, these organic compounds in the small bodies were originally formed in interstellar dusts (ISD) in dense clouds by the action of cosmic rays and ultraviolet light. We irradiated a frozen mixture of methanol, ammonia and water with high-energy heavy ions from an accelerator ("HIMAC" in NIRS, Japan) to simulate the action of cosmic rays in dense clouds. Racemic mixtures of amino acids were detected after hydrolysis of the irradiation products. A mixture of carbon monoxide, ammonia and water also gave such complex amino acid precursors with large molecular weights. When such amino acid precursors were irradiated with circular polarized UV light from a synchrotron, enantiomeric excesses were detected. The yield of amino acids was not largely changed between, before, and after CPL-irradiation. The present results suggest that the seed of homochirality of terrestrial amino acids were originally formed in interstellar space.

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Evidence for Extraterrestrial Amino-acids and Hydrocarbons in the Murchison Meteorite

Cited by 798 publications

References 24 publications

Methylammonium methylcarbamate thermal formation in interstellar ice analogs: a glycine salt precursor in protostellar environments

Methylammonium methylcarbamate thermal formation in interstellar ice analogs: a glycine salt precursor in protostellar environments

Organic material in meteorites and the link to the origin of life

Formation of amino acid precursors with large molecular weight in dense clouds and their relevance to origins of bio-homochirality

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