Titan's primordial soup: Formation of amino acids via low-temperature hydrolysis of tholins

Astrobiology

Volumn 10, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 337-347

  Neish, Catherine D ^a   Somogyi, Ápád ^b   Smith, Mark A ^b,c  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY   (United States)

^b University of Arizona   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

Author keywords

Prebiotic chemistry; Titan

Indexed keywords

AMINO ACID; ORGANIC COMPOUND; PROTON; THYMINE;

ARTICLE; ASTRONOMY; BIOGENESIS; CHEMISTRY; COLD; HYDROLYSIS; MASS SPECTROMETRY; MICROCLIMATE; MOLECULAR WEIGHT; SYNTHESIS;

AMINO ACIDS; BIOGENESIS; COLD TEMPERATURE; EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT; HYDROLYSIS; MASS SPECTROMETRY; MOLECULAR WEIGHT; ORGANIC CHEMICALS; PROTONS; SATURN; THYMINE;

EID: 77952481219     PISSN: 15311074     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2009.0402     Document Type: Article

References (23)

1. Cabane, M. and Chassefière, E. (1995) Laboratory simulations of Titan's atmosphere: organic gases and aerosols. Planet. Space Sci. 43:47-65.
2. Coustenis, A., Atreya, S.K., Balint, T., Brown, R.H., Dougherty, M.K., Ferri, F., Fulchignoni, M., Gautier, D., Gowen, R.A., Griffith, C.A., Gurvits, L.I., Jaumann, R., Langevin, Y., Leese, M.R., Lunine, J.I., McKay, C.P., Moussas, X., Müller-Wodarg, I., Neubauer, F., Owen, T.C., Raulin, F., Sittler, E.C., Sohl, F., Sotin, C., Tobie, G., Tokano, T., Turtle, E.P., Wahlund, J.-E., Waite, J.H., Baines, K.H., Blamont, J., Coates, A.J., Dandouras, I., Krimigis, T., Lellouch, E., Lorenz, R.D., Morse, A., Porco, C.C., Hirtzig, M., Saur, J., Spilker, T., Zarnecki, J.C., Choi, E., Achilleos, N., Amils, R., Annan, P., Atkinson, D.H., Bénilan, Y., Bertucci, C., Bézard, B., Bjoraker, G.L., Blanc, M., Boireau, L., Bouman, J., Cabane, M., Capria, M.T., Chassefière, E., Coll, P., Combes, M., Cooper, J.F., Coradini, A., Crary, F., Cravens, T., Daglis, I.A., de Angelis, E., de Bergh, C., de Pater, I., Dunford, C., Durry, G., Dutuit, O., Fairbrother, D., Flasar, F.M., Fortes, A.D., Frampton, R., Fujimoto, M., Galand, M., Grasset, O., Grott, M., Haltigin, T., Herique, A., Hersant, F., Hussmann, H., Ip, W., Johnson, R., Kallio, E., Kempf, S., Knapmeyer, M., Kofman, W., Koop, R., Kostiuk, T., Krupp, N., KÜ ppers, M., Lammer, H., Lara, L.-M., Lavvas, P., Le Mouélic, S., Lebonnois, S., Ledvina, S., Li, J., Livengood, T.A., Lopes, R.M., Lopez-Moreno, J.-J., Luz, D., Mahaffy, P.R., Mall, U., Martinez-Frias, J., Marty, B., McCord, T., Menor Salvan, C., Milillo, A., Mitchell, D.G., Modolo, R., Mousis, O., Nakamura, M., Neish, C.D., Nixon, C.A., Nna Mvondo, D., Orton, G., Paetzold, M., Pitman, J., Pogrebenko, S., Pollard, W., Prieto-Ballesteros, O., Rannou, P., Reh, K., Richter, L., Robb, F.T., Rodrigo, R., Rodriguez, S., Romani, P., Ruiz Bermejo, M., Sarris, E.T., Schenk, P., Schmitt, B., Schmitz, N., Schulze-Makuch, D., Schwingenschuh, K., Selig, A., Sicardy, B., Soderblom, L., Spilker, L.J., Stam, D., Steele, A., Stephan, K., Strobel, D.F., Szego,K., Szopa, C., Thissen, R., Tomasko, M.G., Toublanc, D., Vali, H., Vardavas, I., Vuitton, V., West, R.A., Yelle, R., and Young, E.F. (2009) TandEM: Titan and Enceladus mission. Experimental Astronomy 23:893-946.
3. Fortes, A.D., Grindrod, P.M., Trickett, S.K., and Vočadlo, L. (2007) Ammonium sulfate on Titan: possible origin and role in cryovolcanism. Icarus 188:139-153.
4. Hanel, R., Conrath, B., Flasar, F.M., Kunde, V., Maguire, W., Pearl, J.C., Pirraglia, J., Samuelson, R., Herath, L., Allison, M., Cruikshank, D.P., Gautier, D., Gierasch, P.J., Horn, L., Koppany, R., and Ponnamperuma, C. (1981) Infrared observations of the saturnian system from Voyager 1. Science 212:192-200.
5. Imanaka, H., Khare, B.N., Elsila, J.E., Bakes, E.L.O., McKay, C.P., Cruikshank, D.P., Sugita, S., Matsui, T., and Zare, R.N. (2004) Laboratory experiments of Titan tholin formed in cold plasma at various pressures: implications for nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic compounds in Titan haze. Icarus 168:344-366.
6. Kargel, J.S., Croft, S.K., Lunine, J.I., and Lewis, J.S. (1991) Rheological properties of ammonia-water liquids and crystal-liquid slurries: planetological applications. Icarus 89: 93-112.
7. Khare, B.N., Sagan, C., Thompson, W.R., Arakawa, E.T., Suits, F., Callcott, T.A., Williams, M.W., Shrader, S., Ogino, H., Willingham, T.O., and Nagy, B. (1984) The organic aerosols of Titan. Adv. Space Res. 4:59-68.
8. Khare, B.N., Sagan, C., Ogino, H., Nagy, B., Er, C., Schram, K.H., and Arakawa, E.T. (1986) Amino acids derived from Titan tholins. Icarus 68:176-184.
9. Kunde, V.G., Aikin, A.C., Hanel, R.A., Jennings, D.E., Maguire, W.C., and Samuelson, R.E. (1981) C4H2, HC3N and C2N2 in Titan's atmosphere. Nature 292:686-688.
10. Lorenz, R.D., Stiles, B.W., Kirk, R.L., Allison, M.D., Persi del Marmo, P., Iess, L., Lunine, J.I., Ostro, S.J., and Hensley, S. (2008) Titan's rotation reveals an internal ocean and changing zonal winds. Science 319:1649-1651.
11. Maguire, W.C., Hanel, R.A., Jennings, D.E., Kunde, V.G., and Samuelson, R.E. (1981) C3H8 and C3H4 in Titan's atmosphere. Nature 292:683-686.
12. Neish, C.D., Somogyi, A., Imanaka, H., Lunine, J.I., and Smith, M.A. (2008) Rate measurements of the hydrolysis of complex organic macromolecules in cold aqueous solutions: implications for prebiotic chemistry on early Earth and Titan. Astrobiology 8:273-287.
13. Neish, C.D., Somogyi, A., Lunine, J.I., and Smith, M.A. (2009) Low temperature hydrolysis of laboratory tholins in ammonia-water solutions: implications for prebiotic chemistry on Titan. Icarus 201:412-421.
14. O'Brien, D.P., Lorenz, R.D., and Lunine, J.I. (2005) Numerical calculations of the longevity of impact oases on Titan. Icarus 173:243-253.
15. Raulin, F., Nguyen, M.J., and Coll, P. (2007) Titan: an astrobiological laboratory in the Solar System. Proc. Soc. Photo. Opt. Instrum. Eng. 6694, doi:10.1117=12.732883.
16. Sagan, C., Thompson, W.R., and Khare, B.N. (1992) Titan: a laboratory for prebiological organic chemistry. Acc. Chem. Res. 25:286-292.
17. Sarker, N., Somogyi, A., Lunine, J.I., and Smith, M.A. (2003) Titan aerosol analogues: analysis of the nonvolatile tholins. Astrobiology 3:719-726.
18. Somogyi, A., Oh, C., Smith, M.A., and Lunine, J.I. (2005) Organic environments on Saturn's moon Titan: simulating chemical reactions and analyzing products by FT-ICR and ion-trap mass spectrometry. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 16:850-859.
19. Takenaka, N., Ueda, A., Daimon, T., Bandow, H., Dohmaru, T., and Maeda, Y. (1996) Acceleration mechanism of chemical reaction by freezing: the reaction of nitrous acid with dissolved oxygen. J. Phys. Chem. 100:13874-13884.
20. Tobie, G., Grasset, O., Lunine, J.I., Mocquet, A., and Sotin, C. (2005) Titan's internal structure inferred from a coupled thermal-orbital model. Icarus 175:496-502.
21. Tobie, G., Lunine, J.I., and Sotin, C. (2006) Episodic outgassing as the origin of atmospheric methane on Titan. Nature 440:61-64.
22. Vuitton, V., Yelle, R.V., and McEwan, M.J. (2007) Ion chemistry and N-containing molecules in Titan's upper atmosphere. Icarus 191:722-742.
23. Waite, J.H., Niemann, H., Yelle, R.V., Kasprzak, W.T., Cravens, T.E., Luhmann, J.G., McNutt, R.F., Ip, W., Gell, D., De La Haye, V., MÜ ller-Wordag, I., Magee, B., Borggren, N., Ledvina, S., Fletcher, G., Walter, E., Miller, R., Scherer, S., Thorpe, R., Xu, J., Block, B., and Arnett, K. (2005) Ion neutral mass spectrometer results from the first flyby of Titan. Science 308:982-986.