Biology – Quantitative Biology – Biomolecules
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p23e0118h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P23E-0118
Biology
Quantitative Biology
Biomolecules
5410 Composition (1060, 3672), 5421 Interactions With Particles And Fields, 5422 Ices, 6221 Europa
Scientific paper
We are studying the radiolysis of organic molecules in ice at Europa temperatures by studying both simple and complex biomolecules, including microorganisms. High energy electron irradiation is employed and the products are analyzed using infrared spectroscopy, thermal desorption mass spectroscopy, and laser desorption/ionization mass spectroscopy. Hydrocarbon radiolysis yields carbon dioxide that is trapped and methane molecules that escape and results in net loss of carbon. Aliphatic molecules with C=O bonds are also formed and thought to be polymethylene oxides (PMOs). When heated, they polymerize to form brown, high-molecular-weight refractory residues with linear, spherical, and ring-shaped macrostructures, typically many tens of micrometers in size. Laser desorption mass spectra of the residues are not overly complex and different for each initial species. During warming, CO2 spectra indicate trapping in a clathrate structure. While pure CO2 clathrates may be difficult to form on icy satellite surfaces, mixed hydrate clathrates can be formed using "helper" molecules including PMOs such as C2H4O (oxirane) and C4H8O (tetrahydrofuran). Ices containing such "helper" molecules form clathrate structures in vacuum at temperatures of about 140 K. If the original mixture contains CO2 then a mixed clathrate can be formed. In our experiments, irradiation produces both the CO2 and "helper" molecules. Clathrate hydrates may also trap O2 in similar fashion (Hand et al. 2006).
Carlson Richard W.
Hand Kevin Peter
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