Thermal decomposition behavior of potassium and sodium jarosite synthesized in the presence of methylamine and alanine

Abstract

Biomolecules, methylamine and alanine, found associated with natural jarosite samples peaked the interest of astrobiologists and planetary geologists. How the biomolecules are associated with jarosite remains unclear although the mechanism could be important for detecting biosignatures in the rock record on Earth and other planets. A series of thermal gravimetric experiments using synthetic K-jarosite and Na-jarosite were conducted to determine if thermal analysis could differentiate physical mixtures of alanine and methylamine with jarosite from samples where the methylamine or alanine was incorporated into the synthesis procedure. Physical mixtures and synthetic experiments with methylamine and alanine could be differentiated from one another and from the standards by thermal analysis for both the K-jarosite and Na-jarosite end-member suites. Changes included shifts in on-set temperatures, total temperature changes from on-set to final, and the presence of indicator peaks for methylamine and alanine in the physical mixture experiments.