Mass Spectral Investigation of Laboratory Made Tholins and Their Reaction Products: Implications to Tholin Surface Chemistry on Titan

Details Mass Spectral Investigation of Laboratory Made Tholins and Their Reaction Products: Implications to Tholin Surface Chemistry on Titan Mass Spectral Investigation of Laboratory Made Tholins and Their Reaction Products: Implications to Tholin Surface Chemistry on Titan

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.2730s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #27.30; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.533

Biology

Scientific paper

The success of the Huygens mission does not overshadow the importance of laboratory simulations of gas-phase and surface reactions that might occur in Titan's atmosphere and surface, respectively. We present here our latest results on chemical reactions (hydrolysis, peroxidation and hydrogenation) of laboratory made tholins obtained by FT-ICR mass spectrometry. The laboratory synthesis of tholins has been described in our earlier papers [1,2]. Overall, we conclude that our laboratory tholins are reactive materials that undergo fast hydrolysis, oxidation and reduction. Thus, if the tholin on Titan's surface resemble our laboratory made tholins, it can be considered as a potential starting material for several synthetic processes that can provide organic compounds of pre-biotic interest.
Hydrolysis reactions occur with rate constants of 2-10 hour-1 at room temperature. Formal water addition to several species of CxHyNz has been observed by detecting the formation of CxHy+2NzO species. MS/MS fragmentation of the oxygen containing ions leads to the loss of water, ammonia, HCN, acetonitrile, etc. This suggests that tholin hydrolysis may occur in temporary melted ponds of water/ammonia ice on Titan. Peroxidation, which can be considered as a very harsh oxidation, leads to mono-, and multiple oxygenated compounds within a few minutes. The MS/MS fragmentation of these compounds suggests the presence of organic amides and, presumably, amino acid like compounds. Hydrogenation leads to compounds in which the originally present carbon-carbon or carbon-nitrogen double and triple bonds are saturated. H/D exchange experiments show different kinetics depending on the degree of unsaturation/saturation and the number of N atoms.
[1] Sarker, N.; Somogyi, A.; Lunine, J. I.; Smith, M. A. Astrobiology, 2003, 3, 719-726.
[2] Somogyi, A.; Oh, C-H.; Lunine, J. I.; Smith, M. A. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 2005, 16, 850-859.

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