Other
Scientific paper
Dec 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997arcn.rept..377c&link_type=abstract
Analysis of Returned Comet Nucleus Samples, Proceedings of a Workshop held at Milpitas, California, 16-18 January, 1989. Compil
Other
Amino Acids, Carbonaceous Chondrites, Chemical Evolution, Comet Nuclei, Comets, Organic Compounds, Chemical Analysis, Samples, Galactic Evolution, Extraterrestrial Matter, Halley''S Comet, Light Elements, Mass Spectrometers, Protoplanets, Trace Elements
Scientific paper
Comets are generally believed to be primitive bodies that preserve solar system matter in, or nearly in, its primordial state. This expectation has been at least partially borne out by the 1986 flyby missions to Comet Halley which provided data indicating that, with the exception of hydrogen, the light elements (C, N, O, and S) occur in approximately their solar abundances. Although mass spectrometers carried aboard the spacecraft provided much additional data from which to speculate about the molecular forms of these elements a detailed understanding of cometary organic chemistry will ultimately require the laboratory examination of returned samples. Some of the problems that will be encountered in such studies, for example, sensitivity to trace constituents, resolution of numerous isomeric forms, and avoidance of terrestrial contaminants, have already been faced in analyses of the organic compounds from carbonaceous chondrites. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that the progenitors of the carbonaceous chondrites were volatile rich planetesimals similar to those which, at greater radial distances, formed comets. Thus, the organic chemistry of carbonaceous chondrites may represent the outcome of a process of chemical evolution that parallels, although is perhaps further advanced than, that which occurred in comets. These meteorites may then represent not only a useful model for the development and refinement of analytical methods, but also a guide to the types of organic compounds that may be encountered in analyses of cometary matter. In this paper, I have (i) briefly reviewed the results of amino acid analyses of CM chondrites, (ii) discussed the origin of these compounds and the implications for comet organic chemistry, and (iii) described some recent developments in analytical instrumentation for amino acids and their implications for analyses of extraterrestrial materials. Although the emphasis is on amino acids, their general characteristics are common to the other classes of organic compounds in CM chondrites and inferences regarding their origins should be generally relevant.
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