Impact synthesis of the RNA bases

Rios, Andro C.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1424273112

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…45 . Due to very favorable Frank−Condon factors, the ∙CN radical can be excited to very high vibrational and rotational states, which results in observations of a vast range of transitions from the visible spectrum through the infrared to the microwave regions 3 , 5 , 10 , 13 , 33 , 36 , 43 , 44 , 46 – 50 . Together with this capability, this reactive species exhibits high stability due to bond dissociation energy of 7.77 eV (62 711 cm −1 ) 51 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Energy Radical Chemistry Formation of HCN-rich Atmospheres on early Earth

Ferus

Kubelík

Knížek

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Recent results in prebiotic chemistry implicate hydrogen cyanide (HCN) as the source of carbon and nitrogen for the synthesis of nucleotide, amino acid and lipid building blocks. HCN can be produced during impact events by reprocessing of carbonaceous and nitrogenous materials from both the impactor and the atmosphere; it can also be produced from these materials by electrical discharge. Here we investigate the effect of high energy events on a range of starting mixtures representative of various atmosphere-impactor volatile combinations. Using continuously scanning time–resolved spectrometry, we have detected ·CN radical and excited CO as the initially most abundant products. Cyano radicals and excited carbon monoxide molecules in particular are reactive, energy-rich species, but are resilient owing to favourable Franck–Condon factors. The subsequent reactions of these first formed excited species lead to the production of ground-state prebiotic building blocks, principally HCN.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Energy Radical Chemistry Formation of HCN-rich Atmospheres on early Earth

Ferus

Kubelík

Knížek

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…Although the LHB, if it happened, did not induce global ocean evaporation or sterilisation of the Earth [43], it can be assumed that it had a wide influence on planetary chemistry [34,[44][45][46]. Impact-related processes may have contributed to the delivery [47][48][49][50], transformation [51], or even synthesis [52,53] of biologically-relevant molecules and their precursors on Earth's surface. These expectations are in agreement with more recent findings; for instance, the hydrosphere was probably enriched by water [54] and the atmosphere partly eroded and transformed [55].…”

Section: Planetary Accretion and Impact-driven Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The chemical environments of early-stage planets are assumed to be largely influenced by radiation from their young parent stars, which frequently emit orders-of-magnitude greater UV/XUV/X-ray fluxes than main sequence stars [112,113], as well as incoming high energy particle (eg H, H + , D + , He, He + ) and cosmic radiation. On the other hand, recent findings highlight the importance of asteroid and cometary impacts, [34,52,53,92,114] and volcanic activity [59,115] for producing dusts, hazes and heavy clouds [116]. Under some conditions, the planetary surface is then shielded from UV light and surface chemistry is more influenced by impact plasmas, shock waves [53], thermochemistry [117] or atmospheric electricity [118], [119].…”

Section: Ionizing and Uv Radiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ariel – a window to the origin of life on early earth?

et al. 2020

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Is there life beyond Earth? An ideal research program would first ascertain how life on Earth began and then use this as a blueprint for its existence elsewhere. But the origin of life on Earth is still not understood, what then could be the way forward? Upcoming observations of terrestrial exoplanets provide a unique opportunity for answering this fundamental question through the study of other planetary systems. If we are able to see how physical and chemical environments similar to the early Earth evolve we open a window into our own Hadean eon, despite all information from this time being long lost from our planet's geological record. A careful investigation of the chemistry expected on young exoplanets is therefore necessary, and the preparation of reference materials for spectroscopic observations is of paramount importance. In particular, the deduction of chemical markers identifying specific processes and features in exoplanetary environments, ideally "uniquely". For instance, prebiotic feedstock molecules, in the form of aerosols and vapours, could be observed in transmission spectra in the near future whilst their surface deposits could be observed from reflectance spectra. The same detection methods also promise to identify particular intermediates of chemical and physical processes known to be prebiotically plausible. Is Ariel truly able to open a window to the past and answer questions concerning the origin of life on our planet and the universe? In this paper, we discuss aspects of prebiotic chemistry that will help in formulating future observational and data interpretation strategies for the Ariel mission. This paper is intended to open a discussion and motivate future detailed laboratory studies of prebiotic processes on young exoplanets and their chemical signatures.

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“…Impact-induced shock may also serve as an essential source for large-scale molecular synthesis due to various chemical pathways of reaction available in the extreme thermodynamic conditions provides by impact events (McKay & Borucki, 1997;Blank et al, 2001;Goldman & Tamblyn, 2013). Synthesis of various amino acids and nucleobases from simple molecules containing nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen in simulated impact shock conditions has already been discussed (Bar-Nun et al, 1970;Martins et al, 2013;Furukawa et al, 2015;Rios, 2015). Experiments have also shown the synthesis of nucleobases from formamide as a result of the plasma formed by high-energy impact events (Ferus et al, 2014(Ferus et al, , 2015(Ferus et al, , 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, it is necessary to further understand the subsequent fate of these nucleobases in extreme conditions of impact to understand the pathways to the origin of life. While amino acids are known to survive in such extreme condition and also resulted in the formation of peptides as a result of impact-driven shock processes (Blank et al, 2001;Otake et al, 2011;Sugahara & Mimura, 2014, 2015, the fate of nucleobases in similar impact conditions remains largely unexplored. In a previous investigation, we have shown synthesis of a variety of complex macroscale structures as a result of shock processing of various amino acids (Singh et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex structures synthesized in shock processing of nucleobases – implications to the origins of life

Surendra

Vishakantaiah

Muruganantham

et al. 2021

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Nucleobases are nitrogenous bases composed of monomers that are a major constituent of RNA and DNA, which are an essential part of any cellular life on the Earth. The search for nucleobases in the interstellar medium remains a major challenge, however, the recent detection of nucleobases in meteorite samples and laboratory synthesis in simulated analogue experiments have confirmed their abiotic origin and a possible route for their delivery to the Earth. Nevertheless, cellular life is based on the interacting network of complex structures, and there is substantial lack of information on the possible routes by which such ordered structures may be formed in the prebiotic environment. In the current study, we present the evidence for the synthesis of complex structures due to shock processing of nucleobases. The nucleobases were subjected to the reflected shock temperature of 3500–7000 K (estimated) and pressure of about 15–34 bar for over ~2 ms timescale. Under such extreme thermodynamic conditions, the nucleobases sample experiences superheating and subsequent cooling. Electron microscopic studies of shock processed residue show that nucleobases result in spontaneous formation of complex structures when subjected to extreme conditions of shock. These results suggest that impact shock processes might have contributed to the self-assembly of biologically relevant structures and the origin of life.

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Impact synthesis of the RNA bases

Cited by 8 publications

References 21 publications

High Energy Radical Chemistry Formation of HCN-rich Atmospheres on early Earth

High Energy Radical Chemistry Formation of HCN-rich Atmospheres on early Earth

Ariel – a window to the origin of life on early earth?

Complex structures synthesized in shock processing of nucleobases – implications to the origins of life

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