Abstract
Carbonaceous meteorites are fragments of asteroids rich in organic material. In the forming solar nebula, parent bodies may have accreted organic materials resulting from the evolution of icy grains observed in dense molecular clouds. The major issues of this scenario are the secondary processes having occurred on asteroids, which may have modified the accreted matter. Here, we explore the evolution of organic analogs of protostellar/protoplanetary disk material once accreted and submitted to aqueous alteration at 150 °C. The evolution of molecular compounds during up to 100 days is monitored by high resolution mass spectrometry. We report significant evolution of the molecular families, with the decreases of H/C and N/C ratios. We find that the post-aqueous products share compositional similarities with the soluble organic matter of the Murchison meteorite. These results give a comprehensive scenario of the possible link between carbonaceous meteorites and ices of dense molecular clouds.
Highlights
Carbonaceous meteorites are fragments of asteroids rich in organic material
We investigate the effects of aqueous alteration on a solid organic residue produced in the laboratory by mimicking the evolution of ice from dense molecular cloud to protosolar nebula
Chemical reactivity of the organic matter generated from ice analogs and subsequently altered under aqueous conditions
Summary
Carbonaceous meteorites are fragments of asteroids rich in organic material. In the forming solar nebula, parent bodies may have accreted organic materials resulting from the evolution of icy grains observed in dense molecular clouds. We find that the post-aqueous products share compositional similarities with the soluble organic matter of the Murchison meteorite These results give a comprehensive scenario of the possible link between carbonaceous meteorites and ices of dense molecular clouds. We develop experiments to follow the evolution of organic matter, from ice analogs of dense molecular clouds to solar nebula stage and to its possible modifications in parent bodies of carbonaceous chondrites. We investigate the effects of aqueous alteration on a solid organic residue produced in the laboratory by mimicking the evolution of ice from dense molecular cloud to protosolar nebula. This complex organic matter is called here pre-accretional organic residue. Our study highlights a possible chemical connection between organic matter in carbonaceous meteorites and first molecules originating from molecular cloud ices
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