Mark A. Sephton
Multiple Cosmic Sources for Meteorite Macromolecules?
Sephton, Mark A.; Watson, Jonathan S.; Meredith, William; Love, Gordon D.; Gilmour, Iain; Snape, Colin E.
Authors
Jonathan S. Watson
Dr WILLIAM MEREDITH william.meredith@nottingham.ac.uk
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Gordon D. Love
Iain Gilmour
Professor Colin Snape COLIN.SNAPE@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & CHEMICAL ENG
Abstract
The major organic component in carbonaceous meteorites is an organic macromolecular material. The Murchison macromolecular material comprises aromatic units connected by aliphatic and heteroatom-containing linkages or occluded within the wider structure. The macromolecular material source environment remains elusive. Traditionally, attempts to determine source have strived to identify a single environment. Here, we apply a highly efficient hydrogenolysis method to liberate units from the macromolecular material and use mass spectrometric techniques to determine their chemical structures and individual stable carbon isotope ratios. We confirm that the macromolecular material comprises a labile fraction with small aromatic units enriched in 13C and a refractory fraction made up of large aromatic units depleted in 13C. Our findings suggest that the macromolecular material may be derived from at least two separate environments. Compound-specific carbon isotope trends for aromatic compounds with carbon number may reflect mixing of the two sources. The story of the quantitatively dominant macromolecular material in meteorites appears to be made up of more than one chapter.
Citation
Sephton, M. A., Watson, J. S., Meredith, W., Love, G. D., Gilmour, I., & Snape, C. E. (2015). Multiple Cosmic Sources for Meteorite Macromolecules?. Astrobiology, 15(10), 779-786. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2015.1331
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Jul 26, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Sep 29, 2015 |
Publication Date | Oct 23, 2015 |
Deposit Date | Jun 28, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 28, 2016 |
Journal | Astrobiology |
Print ISSN | 1531-1074 |
Electronic ISSN | 1557-8070 |
Publisher | Mary Ann Liebert |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 15 |
Issue | 10 |
Pages | 779-786 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2015.1331 |
Keywords | Abiotic organic synthesis; Carbonaceous chondrite; Cosmochemistry; Meteorites |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/981953 |
Publisher URL | http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2015.1331 |
Contract Date | Jun 28, 2016 |
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Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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