CH4/N2/H2-spark hydrophobic tholins: A systematic approach to the characterisation of tholins. Part II

New Insights into the Characterization of ‘Insoluble Black HCN Polymers’

“…Scheme 2 outlines the general treatment of the samples, the separation in fractions and the techniques used for this study. The results presented herein complete the data reported in a previous paper [20] where some spectroscopic data were shown. The strength of HCN polymerization reactions in an aqueous medium and the proposed structures for insoluble black HCN polymers are discussed.…”

“…was left to stand for 3 d. All of the solns. were heated to 388 for the duration of the reaction for comparison to previous work concerning the formation of tholins under a CH 4 atmosphere and spark discharges [20] [21] [39]. After the reaction, the samples were filtered using a glass fiber filter (0.25 mm) and washed with dist.…”

“…To further Scheme 1. Different Models Proposed in the Literature for HCN Polymers elucidate the structure of this polymer, we used the methodology we developed previously for the characterization of tholins [20] [21]. Data from the elemental analysis, FT-IR, 13 C-CP-MAS-NMR spectra, and GC/MS analysis of the insoluble black HCN polymers were compared to results previously reported in the literature.…”

Electron-molecule chemistry and charging processes on organic ices and Titan’s icy aerosol surrogates

“…2. The spectral fits suggest the presence of CAH, CAC, and C@C bonds, as well as, amines, nitriles, and possibly heterocycles within the residue (Daigo and Mutsukura, 2004;Ruiz-Bermejo et al, 2009;Tran et al, 2003). The oxygen enrichment may take the form of an amide ($399.1 eV) or a ketone ($285.5; 533 eV) functional group (Tran et al, 2003).…”

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.…”