The Murchison Meteorite contains many complex organic compounds. In addition to polyaromatic hydrocarbons, nucleobases and amino acids, many sugar-like compounds have been discovered in this meteorite. These compounds could have been formed in situ while the Meteorite was still in space and some could have been altered in the impact as the meteorite impacted the surface of the Earth. We have been interested in the formation mechanisms of the sugar and sugar derivatives and have worked to understand how these compounds could have formed and or been altered in simulated impact experiments. To this point, experiments have only been run under dry conditions, by mixing the sugar dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and the sugar precursor glycolaldehyde (GLA) with montmorillonite clay. However, it is known that Murchison and other meteorites of its class have experienced large amounts of aqueous alteration. This project looks to understand the difference in reactivity of DHA and GLA over prebiotically relevant minerals in the presence and absence of water. In this poster, preliminary results will be presented on the reaction of DHA and GLA with montmorillonite clays another relevant minerals under aqueous conditions. If time permit, results of simulated impact experiments in the presence of water will be presented

Reaction of dihydroxyacetone and glycolaldehyde with prebiotically relevant minerals under aqueous conditions

251st National Meeting (2016)

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