The discovery of large ( > 100 u) molecules in Titan's upper atmosphere has heightened astrobiological interest in this unique satellite. In particular, complex organic aerosols produced in atmospheres containing C, N, O, and H, like that of Titan, could be a source of prebiotic molecules. In this work, aerosols produced in a Titan atmosphere simulation experiment with enhanced CO (N 2 /CH 4 /CO gas mixtures of 96.2%/2.0%/1.8% and 93.2%/5.0%/ 1.8%) were found to contain 18 molecules with molecular formulae that correspond to biological amino acids and nucleotide bases. Very high-resolution mass spectrometry of isotopically labeled samples confirmed that C 4 H 5 N 3 O, C 4 H 4 N 2 O 2 , C 5 H 6 N 2 O 2 , C 5 H 5 N 5 , and C 6 H 9 N 3 O 2 are produced by chemistry in the simulation chamber. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses of the non-isotopic samples confirmed the presence of cytosine (C 4 H 5 N 3 O), uracil (C 5 H 4 N 2 O 2 ), thymine (C 5 H 6 N 2 O 2 ), guanine (C 5 H 5 N 5 O), glycine (C 2 H 5 NO 2 ), and alanine (C 3 H 7 NO 2 ). Adenine (C 5 H 5 N 5 ) was detected by GC-MS in isotopically labeled samples. The remaining prebiotic molecules were detected in unlabeled samples only and may have been affected by contamination in the chamber. These results demonstrate that prebiotic molecules can be formed by the highenergy chemistry similar to that which occurs in planetary upper atmospheres and therefore identifies a new source of prebiotic material, potentially increasing the range of planets where life could begin.

It is now accepted that one of the important pathways of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation occurs through aqueous phase chemistry in the atmosphere. However, the chemical mechanisms leading to macromolecules are still not well understood. It was recently shown that oligomer production by OH radical oxidation in the aerosol aqueous phase from α-dicarbonyl precursors, such as methylglyoxal and glyoxal, is irreversible and fast.

Methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) was chosen in the present study as it is an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl that can undergo radical oligomerization in the aerosol aqueous phase. We present here experiments on the aqueous phase OH-oxidation of MVK, performed under various conditions. Using NMR and UV absorption spectroscopy, high and ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry, we show that the fast formation of oligomers up to 1800 Da is due to radical oligomerization of MVK, and 13 series of oligomers (out of a total of 26 series) are identified. The influence of atmospherically relevant parameters such as temperature, initial concentrations of MVK and dissolved oxygen are presented and discussed. In agreement with the experimental observations, we propose a chemical mechanism of OH-oxidation of MVK in the aqueous phase that proceeds via radical oligomerization of MVK on the olefin part of the molecule. This mechanism highlights in our experiments the paradoxical role of dissolved O₂: while it inhibits oligomerization reactions, it contributes to produce oligomerization initiator radicals, which rapidly consume O₂, thus leading to the dominance of oligomerization reactions after several minutes of reaction. These processes, together with the large range of initial concentrations investigated show the fundamental role that radical oligomerization processes likely play in polluted fogs and atmospheric aerosol

Dissociations of the ethyne dication following its production by photoionization in the photon energy range of 35–65 eV have been investigated by the photoelectron–ion–ion coincidence technique using both synchrotron radiation and laboratory light sources. New quantum mechanical calculations identify and locate the electronic states of the molecular dication in this energy range and show that the dissociation products are formed in their ground states by heterogeneous processes. Five reaction channels leading to three molecular fragments have been identified and are interpreted as sequential processes, several faster than fragment rotation and one possibly involving dissociation of CH+ to H+ with a lifetime of the order of 25 fs.

No abstract

In order to separate the fundamental synchrotron radiation from the high harmonics emitted by an undulator, a low photon energy-pass filter has been designed and built, ensuring a high spectral purity on the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) SU5 beamline at Super-ACO. It consists of an absorption cell filled with rare gases and separated from the ultrahigh vacuum of the storage ring and of the beamline by a double differential pumping obtained with thin capillaries. Its conception has been optimized by numerical computation of pumping speed. Admission pressures in the range of 100 Pa in the central part of the filter have been used without any degradation of the upstream or downstream ultrahigh vacuum. The measured attenuation factors above the energy cutoff are above 105 and 102 (and certainly above 103 with ultimate pressure of Ne) for argon and neon absorbing gases, respectively, with no measurable attenuation of fundamental radiation. A sophisticated numerical simulation of the pressure distribution, taking into account the geometry of the whole absorption cell including the first pair of capillaries, has been developed. The corresponding calculated attenuation factors are in very good agreement with the measurements, and thus allow reliable predictions of the expected attenuation factors for any given configuration of the filter.

In this work Titan's atmospheric chemistry is simulated using a capacitively coupled plasma radio frequency discharge in a N(2)-CH(4) stationnary flux. Samples of Titan's tholins are produced in gaseous mixtures containing either 2 or 10% methane before the plasma discharge, covering the methane concentration range measured in Titan's atmosphere. We study their solubility and associated morphology, their infrared spectroscopy signature and the mass distribution of the soluble fraction by mass spectrometry. An important result is to highlight that the previous Titan's tholin solubility studies are inappropriate to fully characterize such a heterogeneous organic matter and we develop a new protocol to evaluate quantitatively tholins solubility. We find that tholins contain up to 35% in mass of molecules soluble in methanol, attached to a hardly insoluble fraction. Methanol is then chosen as a discriminating solvent to characterize the differences between soluble and insoluble species constituting the bulk tholins. No significant morphological change of shape or surface feature is derived from scanning electron microscopy after the extraction of the soluble fraction. This observation suggests a solid structure despite an important porosity of the grains. Infrared spectroscopy is recorded for both fractions. The IR spectra of the bulk, soluble, and insoluble tholins fractions are found to be very similar and reveal identical chemical signatures of nitrogen bearing functions and aliphatic groups. This result confirms that the chemical information collected when analyzing only the soluble fraction provides a valuable insight representative of the bulk material. The soluble fraction is ionized with an atmospheric pressure photoionization source and analyzed by a hybrid mass spectrometer. The congested mass spectra with one peak at every mass unit between 50 and 800 u confirm that the soluble fraction contains a complex mixture of organic molecules. The broad distribution, however, exhibits a regular pattern of mass clusters. Tandem collision induced dissociation analysis is performed in the negative ion mode to retrieve structural information. It reveals that (i) the molecules are ended by methyl, amine and cyanide groups, (ii) a 27 u neutral moiety (most probably HCN) is often released in the fragmentation of tholin anions, and (iii) an ubiquitous ionic fragment at m/z 66 is found in all tandem spectra. A tentative structure is proposed for this negative ion.

The polymeric composition of Titan's tholins--laboratory analogues of Titan's aerosols--is elucidated using high-resolution mass spectrometry. This complex organic matter is produced by plasma discharge in a gaseous nitrogen-methane mixture and analyzed with a hybrid linear trap/orbitrap mass-spectrometer. The highly structured mass spectra are treated with tools developed for petroleomics (Kendrick and van Krevelen diagrams), with original adaptations for nitrogen-rich compounds. Our goal is to find the best chemical basis set to describe the compositional space that these polymers occupy, to shed light onto the chemical structure of tholins. We succeeded in assigning the molecules identified in the mass spectra of tholins to a small number of regularly distributed X-(CH(2))(m)(HCN)(n) families, where the balanced copolymer (m = n) is determined to play a central role. Within each family, the polymer lengths n and m present Poisson-type distributions. We also identify the smallest species of a subset of families as linear and cyclic amino nitrile compounds of great astrobiological interest: biguanide, guanidin, acetamidine, aminoacetonitrile, and methylimidazole.

No abstract