Investigation of biomolecules produced by oceanic impacts of meteorites

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Formation of biomolecules on the prebiotic Earth has not been clear. There are three kinds of proposed origins of the biomolecules : extraterrestrial delivery, formation in hydrothermal vent, and formation by impact reactions. The extraterrestrial delivery and the formation in hydrothermal vent have been investigated intensively. Recently, we found the formation of an amino acid, amines, and carboxylic acids by impact reactions. However, little investigations have been conducted about the formation by impact reaction so far.In this study, we focused on volatile organic compounds (VOC)that may be formed by impact reactions. We made a VOC collector to recover produced VOCs from container of impact experiments. The VOCs were analyzed by GC/MS. We found the formation of hydrocarbons, alcohols, an aldehyde, and a nitrile. Those yields were different according to the difference in the compositions of starting materials that simulating some types of chondrites. The formation of sulfur containing organic compound was occurred when the starting material contained pyrite, but was not occurred when they contained troilite instead of pyrite. These results suggest that various VOCs including sulfur containing VOCs were produced by prebiotic impacts.