prebiotic chemistry Archives

Heat maps of amino acid percent yields at 0 ºC relative to the starting HCN inventory with 1% and 30% survival factors of initial organic inventory. Columns correspond to varying NH3 concentrations (0–10% of the total water content). Rows list the 21 amino acids evaluated. Cell shading follows a viridis scale from 0% (purple) to 100% (yellow). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Titan

Prebiotic Chemistry Insights for Dragonfly: Thermodynamics of Amino Acid Synthesis in Selk Crater on Titan

by Keith CowingNovember 14, 2025November 14, 2025

Saturnian moon Titan presents a compelling testbed for probing prebiotic chemistry beyond early Earth. Impact-generated melt pools provide transient aqueous habitats in an otherwise cryogenic environment.

(A) Spectral variation of the benzene:CO mixture before and after photon exposure. The dark blue line corresponds to the IR spectra before photon exposure, and the lighter blue corresponds to the IR spectra of the benzene:CO ice after photon exposure. (B) Spectral variation of the main aromatic bands as a function of photon fluence, with lighter colors representing higher photon fluence. Different colors are used to identify benzene, toluene, and benzonitrile. Each ice was exposed to approximately the same photon fluence of ∼7 × 1017 photons cm−2 (Table 2). Unless explicitly indicated, all subpanels share the same axis scale. -- astro-ph.IM

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

The Survival Of Aromatic Molecules In Protoplanetary Disks

by Keith CowingOctober 16, 2025June 10, 2026

Aromaticity is a common chemical functionalities in bioactive molecules. In interstellar and circumstellar environments benzene and other small aromatics are considered the precursor for more complex prebiotic molecules and they […]

T3P-fueled non-equilibrium assembly of phosphonodithiolates via a reaction cascade. -- chemrxiv.org

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Primitive Chemically Fueled Reaction Cascade For Dissipative Droplets

by Keith CowingOctober 12, 2025October 14, 2025

A primitive, chemically fueled phosphonodithiolates reaction cascade was constructed using phosphate-based T3P as the chemical fuel and 4-methoxybenzenethiol as the precursor molecule.

Assembly formed by primordial peptides as observed by bright field Microscopy Credit Frenkel-Pinter Lab

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

New Study Reveals Why Nature Picked Today’s Proteins

by Keith CowingOctober 1, 2025October 1, 2025

Why did life on Earth choose alpha amino acids as the building blocks of proteins? A new study suggests the answer lies in the stability of their inter-molecular interactions.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Fundamental Role of N–O Bond-Containing Compounds in Prebiotic Synthesis

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2025September 25, 2025

The emergence of biomolecules on the primordial Earth represents a pivotal scientific question for understanding the origin of life.

The top and lower left panels show the integrated intensity map and the intensity-weighted velocity for EG. The top and lower right panels show the same for GN. We only included that data above 0.005 Jy beam−1 in the moment maps. Gray contours in the intensity-weighted velocity maps represent 1, 3, 5, and 7σ, where σ = 0.005 Jy; beam−1 ; channel−1 , integrated over 10 channels. The beam size is shown in the lower left of each panel. The moment 0 maps for EG and GN were generated by summing the following transitions (EG: 350.70, 351.02, 351.30, and 351.81 GHz; GN: 348.19 and 362.22 GHz). The moment 1 maps were generated by averaging the same transitions used for moment 0 maps. The HNC detection at 362.63 GHz is shown for comparison. -- astro-ph.SR

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

A Deep Search For Ethylene Glycol And Glycolonitrile In The V883 Ori Protoplanetary Disk

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2025September 11, 2025

Ethylene glycol ((CH2OH)2, hereafter EG) and Glycolonitrile (HOCH2CN, hereafter GN) are considered molecular precursors of nucleic acids.

Mineralogical map of Jezero crater explored by the Perseverance rover. This mineral map was created from near-infrared (1-2.6 µm) CRISM imagery (Parente et al., 2021) using recently developed technologies (Itoh et al., 2021; Saranathan et al., 2021) and overlain on High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE ) imagery. The basaltic rocks at the landing site are dominated by the minerals olivine (red) and pyroxene (tan). Further west, in regions called the Western Fan and Margin Unit, sedimentary rocks predominate. Smectite clay minerals rich in iron and magnesium (light to dark blue tones) and carbonate rich in magnesium and iron (green-yellow tones) were formed through aqueous processes. Unusual iron phosphate and iron sulfide minerals were found at the Bright Angel and Masonic Temple sites near Neretva Vallis (Hurowitz et al., 2025). Other iron phosphate minerals were observed at the Onahu site in the Western Fan region. Credit M. Parente

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Habitable Zones, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Perseverance Rover Uncovers Clues To Ancient Martian Chemistry

by Keith CowingSeptember 11, 2025

NASA’s Perseverance Rover spent three years exploring the floor of Jezero Crater, located just north of the Martian equator.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

NASA OIG Report: NASA’s Management Of The Dragonfly Project

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2025September 9, 2025

Dragonfly, a rotorcraft lander that will fly like a large drone, is designed to gather samples from Saturn’s moon Titan, characterize Titan’s habitability, and look for precursors of the origin […]

Technicians install and adjust the rotors on the full-scale test model representing half of the Dragonfly lander in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel facility at NASA’s Langley Research Center. During a monthlong testing campaign, the team was able to evaluate rotor system performance in Titan-like conditions. -- NASA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Dragonfly Astrobiology Mission Progresses Through Key Development And Test Activities

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2025September 9, 2025

NASA’s Dragonfly mission has cleared several key design, development and testing milestones and remains on track toward launch in July 2028.

Prebiotic Chemistry on Early Earth - Grok via Astrobiology.com

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

From Polymerization-Enabled Folding and Assembly to Chemical Evolution: Key Processes for Emergence of Functional Polymers in the Origin of Life

by Keith CowingSeptember 8, 2025September 8, 2025

Chemical and geological processes on prebiotic Earth are believed to have resulted in the emergence of life through the increasing organization and functionality of organic molecules.