The Formation of Nucleobases from the Ultraviolet Photoirradiation of Purine in Simple Astrophysical Ice Analogues.

Abstract

Nucleobases are the informational subunits of RNA and DNA and are essential to all known forms of life. The nucleobases can be divided into two groups of molecules: the pyrimidine-based compounds that include uracil, cytosine, and thymine, and the purine-based compounds that include adenine and guanine. Previous work in our laboratory has demonstrated that uracil, cytosine, thymine, and other nonbiological, less common nucleobases can form abiotically from the UV photoirradiation of pyrimidine in simple astrophysical ice analogues containing combinations of H2O, NH3, and CH4. In this work, we focused on the UV photoirradiation of purine mixed with combinations of H2O and NH3 ices to determine whether or not the full complement of biological nucleobases can be formed abiotically under astrophysical conditions. Room-temperature analyses of the resulting photoproducts resulted in the detection of adenine, guanine, and numerous other functionalized purine derivatives. Key Words: Pyrimidine-Nucleobases-Interstellar; Ices-Cometary; Ices-Molecular processes-Prebiotic chemistry. Astrobiology 17, 761-770.