The Astrochemical Observatory: Molecules in the Laboratory and in the Cosmos

Abstract

Astrochemistry is a discipline consolidated recently, although its roots extend back to the dawn of early civilization with the observation and mapping of the sky. The way to the understanding of the common natural laws on earth and in space paved by Galilei's observations by the telescope, has been extended in the last decades, by new technologies such as radioastronomy and space missions. Plenty of new chemistry was surprisingly discovered. Extreme rich information on the chemical "composition" of the universe is being obtained, either from the other planets and satellites in the Solar System, from meteorites and comets, or from the interstellar space. In this article we will present selected topics regarding the chemical structures and reactions being discovered. Particular attention will be devoted to aspects considered as relevant for the prebiotic processes on earth, such as those involving chirality and its role played in the origin and evolution of life.

Hydrodynamic Effects in Soft‐matter Self‐assembly: The Case of J‐Aggregates of Amphiphilic Porphyrins

“…The alignment/orientation in supersonic beam jets, i. e. at huge mechanical forces, of simple organic molecules is a well‐studied topic where stereoselective effects, even enantiospecific ones, may occur . In fact, the enantiospecific effects of chiral supersonic jets have been proposed as one of the possible origins of biological homochirality in astrophysical scenarios, i. e. under huge hydrodynamic forces. The present review discusses how in the case of the supramolecular species of the title J‐aggregates, simple solution stirring may overcome the effect of the thermal bath, determining their alignment on the flows leading to selective effects on the nanoparticle growth and to mechanical effects in the J‐aggregate nanoparticles.…”

Energy transfer dynamics and kinetics of elementary processes (promoted) by gas‐phase CO2‐N2 collisions: Selectivity control by the anisotropy of the interaction

“…The vibrational state of the linear CO 2 molecule is defined by three quantum numbers (see below), since one of them, corresponding to the vibrational angular momentum, is disregarded. This assumption has been discussed and motivated in a series of previous works on CO 2 , [25][26][27] where it was observed that the bending states with high rotational energy are unlikely and the energy associated with the vibrational angular momentum is negligible (see, e.g., Ref. [26], where the time evolution of the radial and angular energy associated with the bending has been considered in typical cases).…”

“…One should be able, in fact, to carry out the experiment under high resolution conditions, to make an educated guess of the value of the parameters of a model potential and then refine it by minimizing the difference between theoretical and experimental results. Moreover, energy transfer can be strongly state-specific, since it depends on the quantum states of the molecules before the encounters, and this must be taken into account in the physical situations where rotationally and vibrationally excited CO 2 and N 2 molecules are involved. In fact, since vibrations and rotations distort the molecular geometry, affecting both polarizabilities and charge distributions, the intermolecular forces, related to such properties, are strongly dependent on the quantum states of the interacting monomers and so are the outcomes of their collision.…”

“…[1,2] The energy transfer occurring in CO 2 1 N 2 collisions, especially those involving vibrational excitation of the colliding partners, affects the energy balance and influences the complicated network of processes that determine the chemistry of the atmospheres. In general, for the study of any gaseous mixture, an accurate quantification of the efficiency of the energy transfer processes is required to build up reliable kinetic models, and a detailed characterization of the exchanges of energy is fundamental for modeling elementary processes involved in combustion chemistry, chemistry of plasmas, gases under flow conditions (e.g., in aircraft and spacecraft design [3][4][5] ).…”

Anomalous fluctuations and selective extinction in primordial replicators: a ‘struggle for life’ at the origin of biological homochirality

“…The classic explanations of the predominance of a single chirality in biomolecules include many possible external causes that might have favoured the predominance of a single enantiomer through a process of induction of chirality, or inheritance from the environment. Some of the causes taken into consideration are: the existing chirality of the crystalline surfaces on which the biomolecules were produced for the first time; the selective destruction by intense polarized light, induced by violent cosmic events; the electroweak interactions between the elementary particles of the atoms in the molecules; the effect of vortices in primordial fluids on the crystallization of selected proteins (Kondepudi and Nelson, 1985; Epstein, 1995; Crusats et al ., 2010; Elango et al ., 2010; Aquilanti et al ., 2011; Lombardi et al ., 2011; Palazzetti et al ., 2012; Szurgot, 2012).…”