Formation and Processing of Organics in the Early Solar System |
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Authors: | Kerridge John F |
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Institution: | Department of Chemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424, USA. jkerridg@ucsd.edu |
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Abstract: | Until pristine samples can be returned from cometary nuclei, primitive meteorites represent our best source of information
about organic chemistry in the early solar system. However, this material has been affected by secondary processing on asteroidal
parent bodies which probably did not affect the material now present in cometary nuclei. Production of meteoritic organic
matter apparently involved the following sequence of events: Molecule formation by a variety of reaction pathways in dense
interstellar clouds; Condensation of those molecules onto refractory interstellar grains; Irradiation of organic-rich interstellar-grain
mantles producing a range of molecular fragments and free radicals; Inclusion of those interstellar grains into the protosolar
nebula with probable heating of at least some grain mantles during passage through the shock wave bounding the solar accretion
disc; Agglomeration of residual interstellar grains and locally produced nebular condensates into asteroid-sized planetesimals;
Heating of planetesimals by decay of extinct radionuclides; Melting of ice to produce liquid water within asteroidal bodies;
Reaction of interstellar molecules, fragments and radicals with each other and with the aqueous environment, possibly catalysed
by mineral grains; Loss of water and other volatiles to space yielding a partially hydrated lithology containing a complex
suite of organic molecules; Heating of some of this organic matter to generate a kerogen-like complex; Mixing of heated and
unheated material to yield the meteoritic material now observed. Properties of meteoritic organic matter believed to be consistent
with this scenario include: Systematic decrease of abundance with increasing C number in homologous series of characterisable
molecules; Complete structural diversity within homologous series; Predominance of branched-chain isomers; Considerable isotopic
variability among characterisable molecules and within kerogen-like material; Substantial deuterium enrichment in all organic
fractions; Some fractions significantly enriched in nitrogen-15; Modest excesses of L-enantiomers in some racemisation-resistant
molecules but no general enantiomeric preference. Despite much speculation about the possible role of Fischer-Tropsch catalytic
hydrogenation of CO in production of organic molecules in the solar nebula, no convincing evidence for such material has been
found in meteorites. A similarity between some meteoritic organics and those produced by Miller-Urey discharge synthesis may
reflect involvement of common intermediates rather than the operation of electric discharges in the early solar system. Meteoritic
organic matter constitutes a useful, but not exact, guide to what we shall find with in situ analytical and sample-return
missions to cometary nuclei.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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