organic chemistry Archives

An artist’s rendition of Saturn’s moon Enceladus depicts hydrothermal activity on the seafloor and cracks in the moon’s icy crust that allow material from the watery interior to be ejected into space. New research shows that instruments destined for the next missions could find traces of a single cell in a single ice grain contained in a plume. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Analog Studies, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Enceladus, Europa, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Laboratory Characterization Of Hydrothermally Processed Oligopeptides In Ice Grains Emitted By Enceladus And Europa

by Keith CowingJune 25, 2024June 25, 2024

The Cassini mission provided evidence for a global subsurface ocean and ongoing hydrothermal activity on Enceladus, based on results from Cassini’s mass spectrometers. Laboratory simulations of hydrothermal conditions on icy […]

Integrated emission maps of non-blended transitions of CH3NH2 towards G358.93–0.03 MM1. The integrated emission maps of CH3NH2 are overlaid with the 1.02 mm (291.318 GHz) continuum emission map (black contour). The contour levels are at 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% of the peak flux. The cyan circle represents the synthesised beam of the integrated emission maps. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Detection Of Possible Glycine Precursor Molecule Methylamine Towards The Hot Molecular Core G358.93−0.03 MM1

by Keith CowingJune 25, 2024June 25, 2024

The search for the simplest amino acid, glycine (NH2CH2COOH), in the interstellar medium (ISM), has become a never-ending story for astrochemistry and astrophysics researchers because that molecule plays a possible […]

Top panel: FC2 spectral endmember O (organic-rich), B (global Ceres background), and S (shade), respectively. Bottom panel: RGB map where the abundance of the endmember O is represented in red, the endmember B in green, and the S in blue. The pixel scale of this mosaic is ~136 m/pixel and the images were acquired with a phase value of ~50. Ernutet is the central crater (pointed by the yellow arrow) of the scene in which the organics are visible. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Ceres, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

New Candidates for Organic-rich Regions on Ceres

by Keith CowingJune 24, 2024June 24, 2024

We explore the spatial distribution of organics on Ceres using the visible and near-infrared data collected by the Dawn mission.

Two scenarios to produce a high C/O ratio in the inner disk. Schematic cross-sections of the disk around a VLMS in the (A) oxygen depletion and (B) carbon enrichment scenarios. The left sides of each panel illustrate the C/O enrichment process, while the right sides show the resulting state of the disk, corresponding to when we observe it. Colored shading indicates elemental abundances of carbon (orange) and oxygen (blue). The two-color arrows pointing towards the VLMS indicate accretion of material onto the star. The grey arrow indicates transport processes. The region between the two vertical dotted lines indicates the region where the carbon in the solids is released into the gas. The brown, blue, and grey blobs indicate unaffected solids, ice covered solids and carbon depleted solids in the disk respectively. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

Abundant Hydrocarbons in the Disk Around a Very-low-mass Star

by Keith CowingJune 21, 2024June 21, 2024

Very low-mass stars (those <0.3 solar masses) host orbiting terrestrial planets more frequently than other types of stars, but the compositions of those planets are largely unknown.

Irradiation of NaPyr Under Ceres Conditions

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Ceres, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Photochemical Stability and Reactivity of Sodium Pyruvate: Implications for Organic Analysis on Ceres

by Keith CowingJune 19, 2024June 19, 2024

The dwarf planet Ceres is a high-priority target for future solar system exploration within this decade. This is motivated by the detection of organics by NASA’s Dawn mission as well […]

Replication at the gas-water interface. We considered a geological scenario in which water, containing biomolecules, is evaporated by a gas flow at the scale of millimeters. In volcanic porous rock, many of such settings can be imagined. The gas flow induces convective water currents and causes it to evaporate. Dissolved nucleic acids and salts accumulate at the gas-water interface due to the interfacial currents, even if the influx from below is pure water. Through the induced vortex, nucleic acids pass through different concentrations of salt, promoting strand separation and allowing them to replicate exponentially. Our experiments replicate this environment on the microscale, subjecting a defined sample volume to a continuous influx of pure water with an airflux brushing across. -- biorxiv.org

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Prebiotic Gas Flow Environment Enables Isothermal Nucleic Acid Replication

by Keith CowingJune 19, 2024June 19, 2024

Nucleic acid replication is a central process at the origin of life. On early Earth, replication is challenged by the dilution of molecular building blocks and the difficulty of separating […]

JWST MIRI/MRS spatially maps of the [NeIII]/[NeII] emission lines. From top left (clockwise): NGC 7469, NGC 3256-N, NGC 3256-S, VV114, IIZw96 and NGC 5728.The apertures shown in Figure 2 are shown here as well. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emission In Galaxies As Seen With JWST

by Keith CowingJune 18, 2024June 18, 2024

We present a systematic study of mid-infrared spectra of galaxies including star-forming galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei observed with JWST MIRI-MRS and NIRSpec-IFU.

HILTRAC apparatus schematic and inset photos. The apparatus schematic highlights the moveable Chamber 1, the path of the UV photolysis laser (light blue), the reservoir with gas inlets (purple arrows), the USF produced from the nozzle, and the intersection of the flow with the DFCS (red) and LIF (green) optical axes. The top inset photos show the reservoir with Laval nozzle (left) and the Pitot tube mounted on the YZ translation stages (right). The bottom inset photo shows an interior picture of the chamber, with the X translation stage for the reservoir visible on the internal breadboard, the two optical axes for LIF and DFCS overlapping with the UV photolysis laser, and the cage-mounted LIF collection optics. A red diode laser shows the approximate path of the infrared frequency comb laser beam as it reflects off the gold mirrors for the Herriott multipass configuration. -- physics.chem-ph

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Design and Implementation of a New Apparatus for Astrochemistry: Kinetic Measurements of the CH + OCS Reaction and Frequency Comb Spectroscopy in a Cold Uniform Supersonic Flow

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2024June 11, 2024

We present the development of a new astrochemical research tool HILTRAC, the Highly Instrumented Low Temperature ReAction Chamber. The instrument is based on a pulsed form of the CRESU (Cinétique […]

Five samples per species of those considered of more interest. We show the time evolution of the abundance computed with the neural emulator in solid line, while the original time evolution of the test set is shown in dashed lines. These have been selected randomly with no cherry-picking. -- astro-ph.IM

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

A Fast Neural Emulator For Interstellar Chemistry

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2024June 9, 2024

Astrochemical models are important tools to interpret observations of molecular and atomic species in different environments. However, these models are time-consuming, precluding a thorough exploration of the parameter space, leading […]

This is an artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk around a young and very low-mass star known as ISO-ChaI 147. The results reveal the richest hydrocarbon chemistry seen to date in a protoplanetary disk. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Press Release

Webb Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star

by Keith CowingJune 6, 2024June 6, 2024

An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study the disk of gas and dust around a young, very low-mass star. The results reveal the […]

organic chemistry

Laboratory Characterization Of Hydrothermally Processed Oligopeptides In Ice Grains Emitted By Enceladus And Europa

Detection Of Possible Glycine Precursor Molecule Methylamine Towards The Hot Molecular Core G358.93−0.03 MM1

New Candidates for Organic-rich Regions on Ceres

Abundant Hydrocarbons in the Disk Around a Very-low-mass Star

Photochemical Stability and Reactivity of Sodium Pyruvate: Implications for Organic Analysis on Ceres

Prebiotic Gas Flow Environment Enables Isothermal Nucleic Acid Replication

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Emission In Galaxies As Seen With JWST

Design and Implementation of a New Apparatus for Astrochemistry: Kinetic Measurements of the CH + OCS Reaction and Frequency Comb Spectroscopy in a Cold Uniform Supersonic Flow

A Fast Neural Emulator For Interstellar Chemistry

Webb Finds Plethora of Carbon Molecules Around Young Star

How High-pressure Ices On Large Ocean Worlds Can Support Habitability: The Compatibility Of Amino Acids Into Ice VI And VII

Ice Drives The Emergence Of Functional Protocells

Chemical Abundance Patterns at z=1-7: Carbon, Nitrogen, Neon, Sulphur, and Argon Abundances From JWST Spectroscopy

Optimization of Petal-Shaped Occulters for Exo-Earth Observation

Topographically Forced Stationary Waves Can Explain The Near-Surface Zonal Winds Observed By Huygens On Titan