Solid state radiolysis of amino acids in an astrochemical perspective

Cataldo, Franco; Angelini, Giancarlo; Iglesias‐Groth, Susana; Manchado, A.

doi:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2010.08.012

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Using a mathematical treatment reported in detail elsewhere (Iglesias-Groth et al 2011;Cataldo et al 2010a), we have determined the radiolysis rate constant of each amino acid k dsc and the radioracemization rate constant k rac in year -1 as reported in Table 2 respectively. As expected from the previous discussion on the N c and R c values, the k dsc and k rac have the same order of magnitude ranging from 10 -10 year -1 for the less radiation resistant amino acids to 10 -11 year -1 for the most radiation resistant.…”

Section: The Amino Acids Stability To Radiation and Radioracemizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, its faster radiolytic decomposition is compensated by its higher relative concentration (with respect to the other amino acids) at the origins. On the other hand, an amino acid with exceptional radiolysis and radioracemization resistance is tyrosine (Cataldo et al 2010a). The fact that tyrosine was not reported as component of the amino acids mixture found in meteorites can be explained with the fact that it is commonly thought that it was formed in a later stage of chemical evolution as derivative of phenylalanine as shown experimentally by Taguchi et al 2001.…”

Section: The Amino Acids Stability To Radiation and Radioracemizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Radiolysis and radioracemization of 20 amino acids from the beginning of the Solar System

Cataldo

Ursini

Angelini

et al. 2011

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

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A series of chiral amino acids in the levo form used in the current terrestrial biochemistry were irradiated in the solid and dry state with c-radiation to a dose of 3.2 MGy which is the dose equivalent to that derived by radionuclide decay in comets and asteroids in 1.05 9 10 9 years at a depth [20 m. For each amino acids, the radiolysis degree and the radioracemization degree was measured, respectively by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and by optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) spectroscopy. From

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Section: The Amino Acids Stability To Radiation and Radioracemizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Amino Acids Stability To Radiation and Radioracemizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiolysis and radioracemization of 20 amino acids from the beginning of the Solar System

Cataldo

Ursini

Angelini

et al. 2011

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

Self Cite

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“…Draganic et al have estimated that a cometary nucleus of 10 km radius would contain radionuclides that would emit ~14 MGy of radiation over 4.5 billion years (the age of the Solar System); the majority of this radiation (11 MGy) occurring in the first tens of millions of years due to 26 Al decay (Draganic et al, 1984). Many other studies investigating the radiolysis of organic compounds have adopted this dose of 14 MGy for asteroids and comets in general (Cataldo et al, 2011b;Cataldo et al, 2011a;Cherubini et al, 2014;Iglesias-Groth et al, 2011). Our total dose of ~1 MGy approximates hundreds of million years' worth of γ-radiation emitted in meteorite parent bodies due to slow radionuclide decay.…”

Section: Comparison Of Results With Estimated Cosmic Radiation Dosesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiolysis of solid-state nitrogen heterocycles provides clues to their abundance in the early solar system

Hammer

Yoda

et al. 2018

International Journal of Astrobiology

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We studied the radiolysis of a wide variety of N-heterocycles, including many of biological importance, and find that the majority are remarkably stable in the solid-state when subjected to large doses of ionizing gamma radiation from a 60Co source. Degradation of N-heterocycles as a function of dose rate and total dose was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. Many N-heterocycles show little degradation when γ-irradiated up to a total dose of ~1 MGy, which approximates hundreds of millions of years’ worth of radiation emitted in meteorite parent bodies due to slow radionuclide decay. Extrapolation of these results suggests that these N-heterocyclic compounds would be stable in dry parent bodies over solar system timescales. We suggest that the abundance of these N-heterocycles as measured presently in carbonaceous meteorites is largely reflective of their abundance at the time aqueous alteration stopped in their parent bodies and the absence of certain compounds in present-day samples is either due to the formation mechanisms or degradation which occurred during periods of aqueous alteration or thermal metamorphism.

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“…On the other hand, it is well known that prebiotic molecules easily decompose upon exposure to vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light (Nakagawa et al 2000;Ehrenfreund et al 2001;Peeters et al 2003;ten Kate et al 2005;Izumi et al 2008;Tanaka et al 2008), Xrays (Zubavichus et al 2004;Kaneko et al 2005), and high energy particles (Bonner and Lemmon 1978;Bonner et al 1982;Bonner et al 1985;Cataldo et al 2011). The detection of amino acids in meteorites shows that complex organics can survive exposure to radiation during their flight through space to Earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum Yields of Decomposition and Homo-Dimerization of Solid L-Alanine Induced by 7.2 eV Vacuum Ultraviolet Light Irradiation: An Estimate of the Half-Life of L-Alanine on the Surface of Space Objects

Izumi

Nakagawa

2011

Orig Life Evol Biosph

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One of the leading hypotheses regarding the origin of prebiotic molecules on primitive Earth is that they formed from inorganic molecules in extraterrestrial environments and were delivered by meteorites, space dust and comets. To evaluate the availability of extraterrestrial amino acids, it is necessary to examine their decomposition and oligomerization rates as induced by extraterrestrial energy sources, such as vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and X-ray photons and high energy particles. This paper reports the quantum yields of decomposition ((8.2 ± 0.7) × 10(-2) photon(-1)) and homo-dimerization ((1.2 ± 0.3) × 10(-3) photon(-1)) and decomposition of the dimer (0.24 ± 0.06 photon(-1)) of solid L-alanine (Ala) induced by VUV light with an energy of 7.2 eV. Using these quantum yields, the half-life of L-Ala on the surface of a space object in the present earth orbit was estimated to be about 52 days, even when only photons with an energy of 7.2 eV emitted from the present Sun were considered. The actual half-life of solid L-Ala on the surface of a space object orbit around the present day Earth would certainly be much shorter than our estimate, because of the added effect of photons and particles of other energies. Thus, we propose that L-Ala needs to be shielded from solar VUV in protected environments, such as the interior of a meteorite, within a time scale of days after synthesis to ensure its arrival on the primitive Earth.

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Solid state radiolysis of amino acids in an astrochemical perspective

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Radiolysis and radioracemization of 20 amino acids from the beginning of the Solar System

Radiolysis and radioracemization of 20 amino acids from the beginning of the Solar System

Radiolysis of solid-state nitrogen heterocycles provides clues to their abundance in the early solar system

Quantum Yields of Decomposition and Homo-Dimerization of Solid L-Alanine Induced by 7.2 eV Vacuum Ultraviolet Light Irradiation: An Estimate of the Half-Life of L-Alanine on the Surface of Space Objects

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