Low temperature hydrolysis of laboratory tholins in ammonia-water solutions: Implications for prebiotic chemistry on Titan

Direct detection of pyridine formation by the reaction of CH (CD) with pyrrole: a ring expansion reaction

“…From the proposed mechanism in Figure 6, the kinetic isotope effect for the deuteration of the CH radical, i.e. While the recent identification of benzene 53 on Titan strongly suggests that much more complex PAH synthesis 54 may proceed in the cold photoactive atmosphere, the presence of both pyrrole and pyridine, the simplest 5-and 6-membered N-heterocyclic aromatic molecules, has been indirectly inferred from several laboratory experiments 14,15 simulating Titan tholins. 55 In comparison to a PAH homologue, calculations suggest that the inclusion of a nitrogen atom could facilitate ring formation by lowering ring closure barriers.…”

Radiolysis and Photolysis of Icy Satellite Surfaces: Experiments and Theory

“…Other simulations investigated acidic hydrolysis of plasma-generated tholins (Khare et al 1986;), hydrolysis at neutral pH ) and at low temperature (Neish et al 2009). They produced amino-acids, such as glycine, β-alanine and aspartic acid, and urea.…”

NMR identification of hexamethylenetetramine and its precursor in Titan tholins: Implications for Titan prebiotic chemistry

“…These tholins have been studied quite extensively by various methods including UV/Vis spectroscopy (Imanaka et al, 2004), IR spectroscopy (Sagan et al, 1993;Imanaka et al, 2004;Ramirez et al, 2004;Ruiz-Bermejo et al, 2008, UV/Vis fluorescence (Hodyss et al, 2004), pyrolysis-chromatography (McGuigan et al, 2006), mass spectrometry (Sarker et al, 2003;Hodyss et al, 2004;McGuigan et al, 2006;Somogyi et al, 2006;Ruiz-Bermejo et al, 2009;Neish et al, 2009Neish et al, , 2010Imanaka and Smith, 2010) as well as NMR spectroscopy (Sagan et al, 1993;Clarke et al, 2000;Ramirez et al, 2004;Ruiz-Bermejo et al, 2008He et al, 2012a;Derenne et al, 2012). General properties and insight into the functionality of the tholin material has been obtained through these studies, but a definitive organic structural or functional group inventory remains to be determined.…”