In the past decade, astrochemistry has witnessed an impressive increase in the number of detections of complex organic molecules. Some of these species are of prebiotic interest such as glycolaldehyde, the simplest sugar, or aminoacetonitrile, a possible precursor of glycine. Recently, we have reported the detection of two new nitrogen-bearing complex organics, glycolonitrile and Z-cyanomethanimine, known to be intermediate species in the formation process of ribonucleotides within theories of a primordial RNA-world for the origin of life. In this study, we present deep and high-sensitivity observations toward two of the most chemically rich sources in the galaxy: a giant molecular cloud in the center of the Milky Way (G 1 0.693-0.027) and a proto-Sun (IRAS16293-2422 B). Our aim is to explore whether the key precursors considered to drive the primordial RNA-world chemistry are also found in space. Our high-sensitivity observations reveal that urea is present in G + 0.693-0.027 with an abundance of *5 • 10-11. This is the first detection of this prebiotic species outside a star-forming region. Urea remains undetected toward the proto-Sun IRAS16293-2422 B (upper limit to its abundance of £2 • 10-11). Other precursors of the RNA-world chemical scheme such as glycolaldehyde or cyanamide are abundant in space, but key prebiotic species such as 2-amino-oxazole, glyceraldehyde, or dihydroxyacetone are not detected in either source. Future more sensitive observations targeting the brightest transitions of these species will be needed to disentangle whether these large prebiotic organics are certainly present in space.

Context. Peptide-like bond molecules, which can take part in the formation of proteins in a primitive Earth environment, have been detected only towards a few hot cores and hot corinos up to now. Aims. We present a study of HNCO, HC(O)NH2, CH3NCO, CH3C(O)NH2, CH3NHCHO, CH3CH2NCO, NH2C(O)NH2, NH2C(O)CN, and HOCH2C(O)NH2 towards the hot core G31.41+0.31. The aim of this work is to study these species together to allow a consistent study among them. Methods. We have used the spectrum obtained from the ALMA 3 mm spectral survey GUAPOS, with a spectral resolution of ~0.488 MHz (~1.3–1.7 km s−1) and an angular resolution of 1.′′2 × 1.′′2 (~4500 au), to derive column densities of all the molecular species presented in this work, together with 0.′′2 × 0.′′2 (~750 au) ALMA observations from another project to study the morphology of HNCO, HC(O)NH2, and CH3C(O)NH2. Results. We have detected HNCO, HC(O)NH2, CH3NCO, CH3C(O)NH2, and CH3NHCHO, but no CH3CH2NCO, NH2C(O)NH2, NH2C(O)CN, or HOCH2C(O)NH2. This is the first time that these molecules have been detected all together outside the Galactic centre. We have obtained molecular fractional abundances with respect to H2 from 10−7 down to a few 10−9 and abundances with respect to CH3OH from 10−3 to ~4 × 10−2, and their emission is found to be compact (~2′′, i.e. ~7500 au). From the comparison with other sources, we find that regions in an earlier stage of evolution, such as pre-stellar cores, show abundances at least two orders of magnitude lower than those in hot cores, hot corinos, or shocked regions. Moreover, molecular abundance ratios towards different sources are found to be consistent between them within ~1 order of magnitude, regardless of the physical properties (e.g. different masses and luminosities), or the source position throughout the Galaxy. Correlations have also been found between HNCO and HC(O)NH2 as well as CH3NCO and HNCO abundances, and for the first time between CH3NCO and HC(O)NH2, CH3C(O)NH2 and HNCO, and CH3C(O)NH2 and HC(O)NH2 abundances. These results suggest that all these species are formed on grain surfaces in early evolutionary stages of molecular clouds, and that they are subsequently released back to the gas phase through thermal desorption or shock-triggered desorption.

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