Isotopically anomalous carbonaceous grains in extraterrestrial samples represent the most pristine organics that were delivered to the early Earth. Here we report on gentle aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy investigations of eight 15 N-rich or D-rich organic grains within two carbonaceous Renazzo-type (CR) chondrites and two interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) originating from comets. Organic matter in the IDP samples is less aromatic than that in the CR chondrites, and its functional group chemistry is mainly characterized by C-O bonding and aliphatic C. Organic grains in CR chondrites are associated with carbonates and elemental Ca, which originate either from aqueous fluids or possibly an indigenous organic source. One distinct grain from the CR chondrite NWA 852 exhibits a rim structure only visible in chemical maps. The outer part is nanoglobular in shape, highly aromatic, and enriched in anomalous nitrogen. Functional group chemistry of the inner part is similar to spectra from IDP organic grains and less aromatic with nitrogen below the detection limit. The boundary between these two areas is very sharp. The direct association of both IDP-like organic matter with dominant C-O bonding environments and nanoglobular organics with dominant aromatic and C-N functionality within one unique grain provides for the first time to our knowledge strong evidence for organic synthesis in the early solar system activated by an anomalous nitrogen-containing parent body fluid. solar nebula | organic matter | meteorites | comets | transmission electron microscopy P rimitive extraterrestrial materials, including unmetamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites, chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP-IDPs), carbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites, and material from comet 81P/Wild 2, contain isotopically anomalous carbonaceous matter typically enriched in D and/or 15 N compared with the Earth and bulk meteorites (1-11). This carbonaceous matter occurs as diffuse material but also in the form of sub-μm-to μm-sized grains that are extremely enriched in D and/or 15 N and therefore stand out in isotopic maps as so-called "hot spots." These hot spots represent good candidates to study ancient organic compounds that may have served as precursors for the prebiotic history of the early Earth. In many, but not all, cases, the isotopic hot spots occur as so-called "nanoglobules," which are observed as hollow or compact carbonaceous sub-μm spheres in a wide range of primitive extraterrestrial samples (e.g., refs. 11-16). The most widely accepted theory for the origins of the anomalies invokes exothermic ion-molecule isotope exchange reactions at very low temperatures (<25 K) in cold interstellar clouds or the outer reaches of the nascent solar nebula (e.g., refs. 6, 7, 17, and 18). A second possible mechanism for the observed 15 N enrichments is N 2 self-shielding, in which optical depth effects lead to isotopeselective photodissociation (19)(20)(21)(22), but the applicability of the N 2 self-shielding m...