2025/12/09 by Caro, Guillermo M. Muñoz, de Lucas, Héctor Carrascosa, Martín-Doménech, Rafael
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.08413
openalex publication_date 2025/12/09 · openalex created_date 2025/12/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Astrochemistry is a well-established multidisciplinary field devoted to study molecules in space. While most astrochemists are oriented to observe molecules in the gas phase and reproduce their abundances by modeling the physical conditions of the medium, the microscopic dust particles wandering in the interstellar medium deserve the attention of a smaller community. Radiation and thermally-driven processes taking place in the bare dust, and particularly in dust particles covered by ice mantles, are mimicked in the laboratory. In addition to water, interstellar ice contains other simple species. In this Review we present our current knowledge on ice photochemistry and thermal processing that ultimately leads to formation of complex organic molecules (COMs). Numerous COMs are of astrobiological interest and match those present in comets and asteroids. Upon impact of these minor bodies, water and COMs were delivered to the earth and might have intervened in the first prebiotic reactions.