Premium
Meteorites as Catalysts for Prebiotic Chemistry
Author(s) -
Saladino Raffaele,
Botta Giorgia,
Delfino Michela,
Di Mauro Ernesto
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201303690
Subject(s) - prebiotic , formamide , meteorite , chemistry , nucleobase , catalysis , astrobiology , abiogenesis , chemical evolution , organic chemistry , combinatorial chemistry , biochemistry , dna , physics , stars , astronomy
From outer space : Twelve meteorite specimens, representative of their major classes, catalyse the synthesis of nucleobases, carboxylic acids, aminoacids and low‐molecular‐weight compounds from formamide (see figure). Different chemical pathways are identified, the yields are high for a prebiotic process and the products come in rich and composite panels.