Formation of Nucleobases and Other Prebiotic Species from the UV Irradiation of Pyrimidine in Astrophysical Ices

Details Formation of Nucleobases and Other Prebiotic Species from the UV Irradiation of Pyrimidine in Astrophysical Ices Formation of Nucleobases and Other Prebiotic Species from the UV Irradiation of Pyrimidine in Astrophysical Ices

May 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011iaus..280p.276n&link_type=abstract

The Molecular Universe, Posters from the proceedings of the 280th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union held in Tole

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Nucleobases are N-heterocycles which are the informational subunits of DNA and RNA. Biological nucleobases are divided in two types: pyrimidine bases (uracil, cytosine, and thymine) and purine bases (adenine and guanine). Nucleobases have been detected in meteorites and their extraterrestrial origin has been confirmed by isotope measurements, but no N-heterocycle has ever been observed in the ISM. Experiments showed that the UV irradiation of pyrimidine mixed in astrophysical ices such as H_2O, NH_3, CH_3OH, or any combination of these at low temperature (20-30 K) leads to the formation of multiple photo-products derived from pyrimidine including the nucleobases uracil and cytosine. Theoretical studies on the formation of uracil confirmed its experimental formation pathway and demonstrated that the H_2O matrix plays a key role in the chemistry [9]. Thymine, however, was not found in any of the samples, though other pyrimidine derivatives, as well as other species of prebiotic interest such as urea and the amino acid glycine, could be identified [8]. We will extend this study to the formation of nucleobases and other prebiotic species from the UV irradiation of pyrimidine in astrophysically relevant ice mixtures containing H_2O, NH_3, CH_3OH, CO, and CO_2.

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