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The importance of glyceraldehyde radiolysis in chemical evolution

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Abstract

Studies in chemical evolution are intended to demonstrate how compounds of biological importance are generated from substances that could have been found in abiotic conditions on the primitive Earth or in extraterrestrial environments. In this context, the aim of the present work was to examine the behavior of dl-glyceraldehyde in both aqueous solution and solid samples under gamma irradiation. We irradiated dl-glyceraldehyde at different doses and temperatures with a gamma source; even at low doses and temperature (77 K), free radicals were detected. Among the products formed were ethylene glycol and glycolaldehyde. Some sugar-like compounds were also detected.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support from C001-CONACYT-ANR-188689 and DGAPA Grant IN111116. We thank Benjamin Leal, M.Sc., and Francisco Flores, Phys., for their technical assistance. Finally, we are grateful to the unknown reviewers for their valuable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, México

    J. Cruz-Castañeda, E. Aguilar-Ovando, S. Ramos-Bernal, A. Meléndez-López, C. Camargo-Raya, C. Fuentes-Carreón & A. Negrón-Mendoza

  2. Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Ciencias Químicas, UNAM, Mexico City, México

    J. Cruz-Castañeda & A. Meléndez-López

  3. Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

    E. Aguilar-Ovando & T. Buhse

  4. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, México

    C. Fuentes-Carreón

Authors
  1. J. Cruz-Castañeda
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  2. E. Aguilar-Ovando
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  3. T. Buhse
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  4. S. Ramos-Bernal
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  5. A. Meléndez-López
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  6. C. Camargo-Raya
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  7. C. Fuentes-Carreón
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  8. A. Negrón-Mendoza
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Negrón-Mendoza.

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Cruz-Castañeda, J., Aguilar-Ovando, E., Buhse, T. et al. The importance of glyceraldehyde radiolysis in chemical evolution. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 311, 1135–1141 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5080-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5080-2

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