Recently in the Astrochemistry Category

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules have been long adjudged to contribute to the frequently detected distinct emission features at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.2 and 12.7 {\mu}m with weaker and blended features distributed in the 3-20 {\mu}m region.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, as revealed by the distinctive set of emission bands at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.3 and 12.7 μm characteristic of their vibrational modes, are abundant and widespread throughout the Universe.

From modeling the evolution of disks of planetesimals under the influence of planets, it has been shown that the mass of water delivered to the Earth from beyond Jupiter's orbit could be comparable to the mass of terrestrial oceans.

Context: In the laboratory, hydrogen peroxide (HOOH) was proven to be an intermediate product in the solid-state reaction scheme that leads to the formation of water on icy dust grains. When HOOH desorbs from the icy grains, it can be detected in the gas phase.

Aims. Formamide (HCONH2) is the simplest molecule containing the peptide bond first detected in the gas phase in Orion-KL and SgrB2. In recent years, it has been observed in high temperature regions such as hot corinos, where thermal desorption is responsible for the sublimation of frozen mantles into the gas phase.

After hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, nitrogen is one of the most chemically active species in the interstellar medium (ISM). Nitrogen bearing molecules have great importance as they are actively involved in the formation of biomolecules.

The detection of complex organic molecules (COMs) toward dense, collapsing prestellar cores has sparked interest in the fields of astrochemistry and astrobiology, yet the mechanisms for COM formation are still debated.

Context. As a building block for amino acids, formamide (NH₂CHO) is an important molecule in astrobiology and astrochemistry, but its formation path in the interstellar medium is not understood well.

H₂CO is one of the most abundant organic molecules in protoplanetary disks and can serve as a precursor to more complex organic chemistry. We present an ALMA survey of H₂CO towards 15 disks covering a range of stellar spectral types, stellar ages, and dust continuum morphologies.

This paper characterizes the first protein to be discovered in a meteorite. Amino acid polymers previously observed in Acfer 086 and Allende meteorites [1,2] have been further characterized in Acfer 086 via high precision MALDI mass spectrometry to reveal a principal unified structure of molecular weight 2320 Daltons that involves chains of glycine and hydroxy-glycine residues terminated by iron atoms, with additional oxygen and lithium atoms.