Biology
Scientific paper
Feb 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011apj...727l..27d&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 727, Issue 2, article id. L27 (2011).
Biology
5
Astrobiology, Astrochemistry, Comets: General, Ism: Molecules, Meteorites, Meteors, Meteoroids
Scientific paper
The delivery of organic matter to the primitive Earth via comets and meteorites has long been hypothesized to be an important source for prebiotic compounds such as amino acids or their chemical precursors that contributed to the development of prebiotic chemistry leading, on Earth, to the emergence of life. Photochemistry of inter/circumstellar ices around protostellar objects is a potential process leading to complex organic species, although difficult to establish from limited infrared observations only. Here we report the first abiotic cosmic ice simulation experiments that produce species with enantiomeric excesses (e.e.'s). Circularly polarized ultraviolet light (UV-CPL) from a synchrotron source induces asymmetric photochemistry on initially achiral inter/circumstellar ice analogs. Enantioselective multidimensional gas chromatography measurements show significant e.e.'s of up to 1.34% for (13C)-alanine, for which the signs and absolute values are related to the helicity and number of CPL photons per deposited molecule. This result, directly comparable with some L excesses measured in meteorites, supports a scenario in which exogenous delivery of organics displaying a slight L excess, produced in an extraterrestrial environment by an asymmetric astrophysical process, is at the origin of biomolecular asymmetry on Earth. As a consequence, a fraction of the meteoritic organic material consisting of non-racemic compounds may well have been formed outside the solar system. Finally, following this hypothesis, we support the idea that the protosolar nebula has indeed been formed in a region of massive star formation, regions where UV-CPL of the same helicity is actually observed over large spatial areas.
Danger Grégoire
de Marcellus Pierre
Deboffle Dominique
Filippi Jean-Jacques
Le Sergeant D'Hendecourt Louis
No associations
LandOfFree
Non-racemic Amino Acid Production by Ultraviolet Irradiation of Achiral Interstellar Ice Analogs with Circularly Polarized Light does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Non-racemic Amino Acid Production by Ultraviolet Irradiation of Achiral Interstellar Ice Analogs with Circularly Polarized Light, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Non-racemic Amino Acid Production by Ultraviolet Irradiation of Achiral Interstellar Ice Analogs with Circularly Polarized Light will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1365567