2014/12/08 by Martin Ferus, David Nesvorný, Jiřı́ Šponer +5 · 185 citations
Chemistry · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Abiogenesis #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Computational chemistry #Cytosine #DNA #Dissociation (chemistry) #Extraterrestrial life #Formamide #Guanine #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Molecule #Nucleobase #Organic chemistry #Photochemistry #Physics #Planetary Science and Exploration #Radical #Uracil
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1412072111
published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112(3), 657-662 (National Academy of Sciences)
openalex publication_date 2014/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The coincidence of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) period and the emergence of terrestrial life about 4 billion years ago suggest that extraterrestrial impacts could contribute to the synthesis of the building blocks of the first life-giving molecules. We simulated the high-energy synthesis of nucleobases from formamide during the impact of an extraterrestrial body. A high-power laser has been used to induce the dielectric breakdown of the plasma produced by the impact. The results demonstrate that the initial dissociation of the formamide molecule could produce a large amount of highly reactive CN and NH radicals, which could further react with formamide to produce adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil. Based on GC-MS, high-resolution FTIR spectroscopic results, as well as theoretical calculations, we present a comprehensive mechanistic model, which accounts for all steps taking place in the studied impact chemistry. Our findings thus demonstrate that extraterrestrial impacts, which were one order of magnitude more abundant during the LHB period than before and after, could not only destroy the existing ancient life forms, but could also contribute to the creation of biogenic molecules.