Abstract
It is an important but also a challenging analytical problem to understand the chemical composition and structure of prebiotic organic matter that is present in extraterrestrial materials. Its formation, evolution and content in the building blocks (“seeds”) for more complex molecules, such as proteins and DNA, are key questions in the field of exobiology. Ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry is one of the best analytical techniques that can be applied because it provides reliable information on the chemical composition and structure of individual components of complex organic mixtures. Prebiotic organic material is delivered to Earth by meteorites or generated in laboratories in simulation (model) experiments that mimic space or atmospheric conditions. Recent representative examples for ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry studies using Fourier-transform (FT) mass spectrometers such as Orbitrap and ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) mass spectrometers are shown and discussed in the present article, including: (i) the analysis of organic matter of meteorites; (ii) modeling atmospheric processes in ICR cells; and (iii) the structural analysis of laboratory made tholins that might be present in the atmosphere and surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
Highlights
The chemical composition and structure of prebiotic materials that are building blocks of more complex, biologically important molecules, including peptides, lipids, proteins, DNA, etc., provide important information on their formation
We focus mostly on results obtained by the two best “performers” in terms of resolving power, both Fourier Transform: the FT-Orbitrap and FT-ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) mass spectrometers
Soluble organic matter (SOM) can be extracted from powdered meteorite by common solvents and these extracts can be ionized by electrospray ionization in both the positive and negative ion modes
Summary
The chemical composition and structure of prebiotic materials that are building blocks of more complex, biologically important molecules, including peptides, lipids, proteins, DNA, etc., provide important information on their formation. (for a recent review of the evolution of elements and organic matter in space, see [1]). The early ingredients for organic matter were formed in interstellar clouds. Since the 1960s, microwave (MW) spectroscopy has provided strong evidence for the existence of these small molecules in interstellar clouds [2]. High level quantum mechanical calculations allow further refinement of the observed spectra confirming these species more reliably (see, e.g., Reference [3]). The concentration of these molecules in interstellar clouds, is too small and the temperature is too cold to form more complex prebiotic molecules in large number and with reasonable rates (even on the cosmic timeframe)
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