Extraterrestrial prebiotic molecules: photochemistry vs. radiation chemistry of interstellar ices

Chemical Society Reviews
Chris R ArumainayagamPeter J Hodge

Abstract

In 2016, unambiguous evidence for the presence of the amino acid glycine, an important prebiotic molecule, was deduced based on in situ mass-spectral studies of the coma surrounding cometary ice. This finding is significant because comets are thought to have preserved the icy grains originally found in the interstellar medium prior to solar system formation. Energetic processing of cosmic ices via photochemistry and radiation chemistry is thought to be the dominant mechanism for the extraterrestrial synthesis of prebiotic molecules. Radiation chemistry is defined as the "study of the chemical changes produced by the absorption of radiation of sufficiently high energy to produce ionization." Ionizing radiation in cosmic chemistry includes high-energy particles (e.g., cosmic rays) and high-energy photons (e.g., extreme-UV). In contrast, photochemistry is defined as chemical processes initiated by photon-induced electronic excitation not involving ionization. Vacuum-UV (6.2-12.4 eV) light may, in addition to photochemistry, initiate radiation chemistry because the threshold for producing secondary electrons is lower in the condensed phase than in the gas phase. Unique to radiation chemistry are four phenomena: (1) production of a ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 23, 2020·Journal of Molecular Modeling·Julia C SantosRicardo R Oliveira
Oct 3, 2020·The Journal of Chemical Physics·Roey SagiMicha Asscher
Apr 3, 2020·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Aurelio Alvarez-IbarraAurélien de la Lande
Oct 30, 2019·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Mark E WolfHenry F Schaefer
Jun 23, 2020·Physical Review Letters·Alexey PotapovThomas Henning
Apr 17, 2021·The Journal of Physical Chemistry. a·Sorakayala Thripati, Raghunath O Ramabhadran
Apr 20, 2021·The Journal of Physical Chemistry. a·Sujith RamakrishnanMicha Asscher
Apr 22, 2021·Annual Review of Physical Chemistry·Karwan Ali OmarAurélien de la Lande
May 6, 2021·Angewandte Chemie·Artur MardyukovPeter R Schreiner
Jun 8, 2021·Chemical Science·Fábris Kossoski, Mario Barbatti
Jul 10, 2021·The Journal of Chemical Physics·A PelcS Denifl
Aug 7, 2021·The Journal of Physical Chemistry. a·Jai KhatriMartina Havenith
Aug 20, 2021·Journal of the American Chemical Society·N Fabian KleimeierRalf I Kaiser
Dec 23, 2021·Microbial Biotechnology·John E Hallsworth
Dec 31, 2021·The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters·N Fabian Kleimeier, Ralf I Kaiser

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
Fluorescence
X-ray
electron studies

Software Mentioned

ALMA
CREDIT
TRIM

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