The formation of the prebiotic molecules in space. The study: “Dust Motions in Magnetized Turbulence: Source of Chemical Complexity” of G. Cassone (Czech Academy of Sciences) published on ApJL
One of the big and so far unsolved mysteries regarding the origin of life is what are the processes leading to the formation of its fundamental components: aminoacids and their precursors. In the past years several aminoacids have been detected in meteorites. This supports the hypothesis that life could have developed on Earth thanks to complex molecules formed in space. However, if this is the case, how these prebiotic molecules formed in the Universe?
The study “Dust Motions in Magnetized Turbulence: Source of Chemical Complexity” of G. Cassone (Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences), recently appeared on Astrophysical Journal Letters, shed some light on this topic by studying some of the processes resulting in the formation of organic molecules in protoplanetary disks, interstellar clouds and several other environments in the Universe. The authors run advanced simulations in super-computers in order to study the chemical processes triggered by the collisions of dust grains. In particular, they have found that simply inorganic molecules, such as HNCON and H2, can from glycine and seven of the twenty precursors of the aminoacids, after pressure waves triggered by collisions between interstellar dust grains. In some of the environments in the Universe, such as protoplanetary disks, these collisions are not rare and they may occur even with velocities of several meters per second. Thus, the authors demonstrated for the first time that the prebiotic processes resulting in the formation of the molecules fundamental for life occur frequently in given environments of the Universe.
This research is the result of a collaboration between two institutions of Southern Italy: INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Palermo (and in particular the astronomers Angela Ciaravella, Antonio Jiménez-Escobar, e Cesare Cecchi-Pestellini) and the CNR of Messina, together with the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The figure (link) shows the formation of glycine after the compression of a mixture of HCNO and H2
of Mario Giuseppe Guarcello ( follow mguarce)