Abstract
Carbonaceous chondrites are very primitive meteorites that are rich in carbon. They contain many soluble organic compounds, including nitrogen heterocycles. These play a crucial role in present-day living organisms as they are components of the genetic material and of the co-factors of enzymes. This review outlines the nitrogen heterocycle content of carbonaceous meteorites. The potential mechanisms of formation of these molecules are also described. Measurements of the compound-specific carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions are mentioned as a way of establishing the origin of the nitrogen heterocycles detected in meteorites.
Highlights
Meteorites are extraterrestrial objects originating from comets or asteroids that survive the passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and impact the Earth’s surface
To date no pyridine detected in carbonaceous meteorites, which suggested that interstellar chemistry may have carboxylic acids or their potential precursors have been detected in the interstellar contributed to the formation of meteoritic pyridine carboxylic acids
Pyridine monocarboxylic acids were later identified in the corresponding non-volatile residue, with distributions similar to the ones detected in carbonaceous meteorites, which suggested that interstellar chemistry may have contributed to the formation of meteoritic pyridine carboxylic acids
Summary
Meteorites are extraterrestrial objects originating from comets or asteroids that survive the passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and impact the Earth’s surface. The division of the carbonaceous chondrites into groups include the ones named after its type specimen (CI, CM, CK, CO, CR, CV), some unusual ones that have been affected by impact processes (CH and CB), and several ungrouped members [5] They are further grouped into petrographic types (ranging from 1 to 6) depending on the intensity of thermal metamorphism or aqueous alteration on their parent bodies. A petrologic type from 3 to 1 indicates increasing aqueous alteration, while a petrologic type from 3 to 6 indicates increasing thermal metamorphism [6,7] These processes may influence the chemical compositions of carbonaceous chondrites [7,8,9]. This manuscript reviews the nitrogen heterocycle content of carbonaceous meteorites and their formation mechanisms
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