Formation of amino acid precursors in cometary ice environments by cosmic radiation

Kobayashi, Kensei; Kasamatsu, Takashi; Kaneko, Takeo; Koike, Junpei; Oshima, Tairo; Saito, Takeshi; Yamamoto, Tetsuo; Yanagawa, Hiroshi

doi:10.1016/0273-1177(95)00188-k

Cited by 104 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…A small fraction of new refractory species is of high molecular mass, up to 4000 amu at room temperature (Danger et al 2012b), this material is generally called refractory organic residue, or simply residue. Large organic compounds are produced either by ice photoprocessing (Agarwal et al 1985;Briggs et al 1992;Bernstein et al 1995;Muñoz Caro & Schutte 2003;Muñoz Caro et al 2004), by ion bombardment (Cottin et al 2001;Strazzulla & Baratta 1992;Kobayashi et al 1995;Kaiser & Roessler 1998), or by thermal processes (Bossa et al 2009;Vinogradoff et al 2011;Danger et al 2011;Vinogradoff et al 2013Vinogradoff et al , 2012a.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of thermal reactivity for hexamethylenetetramine formation from simulated interstellar ices

Vinogradoff

Fray

Duvernay

et al. 2013

A&A

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Context. Complex organic molecules are observed in a broad variety of astrophysical objects, but little is known about their formation mechanism. Laboratory simulations on interstellar ice analogues are therefore crucial for understanding the origin of these complex organic molecules. In this context, we focus on the thermal reactivity for the formation of the organic residue obtained after photolysis at 25 K of the interstellar ice analogue (H 2 O:CH 3 OH:NH 3 ) warmed to 300 K. Aims. We determine the formation mechanism of one major product detected in the organic residue: hexamethylenetetramine (HMT). We compare the warming of the photolysed interstellar ice analogue with the warming of the two non-photolysed specific ice mixtures H 2 CO:NH 3 :HCOOH and CH 2 NH:HCOOH, which are used as references. Using both general and specific approaches, we show the precise role of the UV photons and the thermal processing in the HMT formation. Methods. We used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to monitor the chemical changes induced by the heating of the photolysed ice analogue and characterize some important species that will subsequently evolve in the formation of HMT in the residue. Results. We show that the thermal processes play a key role in the HMT formation in photolysed ice analogues heated at 300 K. We identify the stable intermediates in the HMT formation that are formed during the warming: the aminomethanol (NH 2 CH 2 OH) and the protonated ion trimethyletriamine (TMTH + , C 3 H 10 N + 3 ). We also identify for the first time a new product in the organic residue, the polymethylenimine PMI (-(CH 2 -NH) n ). Results from this study will be interesting for the analysis of the forthcoming Rosetta mission.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of thermal reactivity for hexamethylenetetramine formation from simulated interstellar ices

Vinogradoff

Fray

Duvernay

et al. 2013

A&A

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“…It was already shown that amino acid synthesis from simpler organic molecules can be induced by interaction with cosmic rays, 9, 10 spark discharges, 11 ultraviolet (UV)/vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation or simply by thermal excitation. 12,13 Bernstein et al 14 and Caro et al 15 synthesized several amino acids by UV irradiation of interstellar ice grain models and Nuevo et al 16 even concluded that amino acids are always formed when interstellar ice grain models containing C, H, O, and N are irradiated with VUV photons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photodissociation of protonated leucine-enkephalin in the VUV range of 8–40 eV

Bari

González-Magaña

Reitsma

et al. 2011

The Journal of Chemical Physics

115

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Until now, photodissociation studies on free complex protonated peptides were limited to the UV wavelength range accessible by intense lasers. We have studied photodissociation of gas-phase protonated leucine-enkephalin cations for vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons energies ranging from 8 to 40 eV. We report time-of-flight mass spectra of the photofragments and various photofragmentyields as a function of photon energy. For sub-ionization energies our results are in line with existing studies on UV photodissociation of leucine-enkephalin. For photon energies exceeding 10 eV we could identify a new dissociation scheme in which photoabsorption leads to a fast loss of the tyrosine side chain. This loss process leads to the formation of a residual peptide that is remarkably cold internally.

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“…Moreover, as already seen in this chapter, when ices relevant to the composition of interplanetary dust particles or comets are irradiated, complex molecules are formed, and among them, the simplest amino acid, glycine (Briggs et al, 1992). After an acid hydrolysis in water other amino acids, such as alanine, valine, proline and others, have also been identified (Bernstein et al, 2002;Kobayashi et al, 1995;Muñoz Caro et al, 2002).…”

Section: Prebiotic Molecules From Comets?mentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Kobayashi et al (1995) and Kasamatsu et al, (1997) were the first to report amino-acid production from irradiated ices. After an irradiation by 3-MeV protons of mixtures containing water, ammonia and a carbon-containing molecule (carbon monoxide, methane or propane), they detected by HPLC several amino acids: glycine, and for the first time in a cometary simulation, alanine, aminobutiric acid and aminoisobutiric acid.…”

Section: Irradiation By Charged Particlesmentioning

confidence: 99%