Simulated Oxidation of Organic Macromolecules on Mars

Details Simulated Oxidation of Organic Macromolecules on Mars Simulated Oxidation of Organic Macromolecules on Mars

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0201m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #02.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1057

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We have begun laboratory investigations of the behavior of organic macromolecules in the presence of oxidants believed to exist on the surface of Mars. Since both N_2 and CH_4 may have been present to some extent in the primitive atmosphere of Mars, we have used Triton tholin, a suite of organic macromolecules produced from laboratory simulations of charged particle chemistry in a 99.9:0.1 N_2/CH_4 atmosphere (McDonald et al. 1994, al Icarus 108, 137). Tholin samples of known mass were subjected to oxidation by 30% H_2O_2 in water at various temperatures. Samples were removed at regular time intervals, dried under vacuum, and the mass of tholin oxidized to volatile species determined. Infrared spectra of oxidized samples were obtained and compared with the spectrum of unoxidized Triton tholin. The infrared spectra show a general decrease in band intensity with oxidation, but the overall spectral shape and relative band intensities remain roughly constant. From the measurements of tholin mass loss, rate constants al k for tholin oxidation at 10, 4, and -23deg C have been obtained. Based on these preliminary data, the temperature dependence of al k is approximately log al k = 0.05 - 440/T, with al k in days(-1) and T in degrees Kelvin. The implications of these data for the survival of organic macromolecules in various martian surface environments will be discussed, as will the similarities between tholins and the organic macromolecules to be tested al in situ by the Mars Oxidant experiment onboard the Mars '96 surface stations.

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