Many laboratory experiments have been carried out to attempt to recreate the atmospheric chemistry of both Titan and the early Earth. While the results of these experiments were groundbreaking at the time, further work has determined that the atmospheres were more reducing than that of Earth. Since then, many groups have attempted to create biological compounds from prebiological atmospheres. There are many obstacles to overcome, the largest being working with and characterizing lab-generated aerosols, the large number of species formed, and the limited sample amounts. To that end, we have worked to develop a new method for aerosol analysis. Taking advantage of the chemical nature of many prebiotic molecules which contain acidic hydrogens, the aerosols are derivatized with N-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-N-methyltrifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA). This allows for selective solvation of only the derivatized compounds. The solvated compounds are then injected into a GC-MS/MS triple-quad operating in trapping mode on the first quadrupole. The combination of triple-quad analysis and derivitization has allowed for the development of a method that is both extremely sensitive and selective for prebiotic molecules. Using this method, called multiple reaction monitoring (MRM), we were able to detect as little as 40 femtomoles of derivatized compounds. With this method, we are also able to distinguish between compounds found in plasma generated aerosols, and photochemically generated aerosols. The figure below depicts a list of the molecules found in these aerosols, their structures, and which aerosol they were generated in.

GC/QQQ limits of detection for biomolecules in abiotic aerosols

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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