Abstract
Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites are primitive asteroidal fragments that contain organic carbon and offer a glimpse of the a-biotic chemical processes that preceded the onset of terrestrial life. Their organic materials display structures as diverse as kerogen-like macromolecules and simpler soluble compounds with identical counterparts in Earth’s biosphere. All show an isotopic composition that verifies their extraterrestrial origin and a lineage to cosmochemical synthetic regimes. While the origin of life remains an inscrutable event, the natural samples of meteorites offer means for learning the range of abiotic molecules available to prebiotic chemistry as well as to explore the physico chemical regimes that might have led to a selected chemical pool amenable to the onset of life.
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Notes
We should remember that the very question of life’s origin was not possible before 1864, when Pasteur demonstrated that the microorganisms growing in the fermentation of broths came from the surrounding air. Until then, the explanation had been that of their spontaneous generation. This idea had carried from antiquity and crossed unquestioned the Middle Ages and Renaissance (at least in regard to bacteria, Newton, Descartes, and Bacon believed in it). Pasteur’s experiment meant that life, deriving from pre-existing life, must have a history and an origin. Where did it all begin?
Meteorites receive their name from the locality in which they fall and are designated as falls when the fireball accompanying their entry into the atmosphere is observed and their fragment are collected soon after; usually, all pertinent atmospheric details are also recorded. Finds are those meteorites that are found on the ground; in the case of CC fallen in temperate climates, they may have acquired substantial terrestrial contamination.
Albeit being 5 years old, this 2006 reference represents the last comprehensive review of CC organic composition. All unreferenced reports are referred to it.
Based on the cyclotron frequency of the ions in a fixed magnetic field.
Chirality is best understood by the synonym of handedness because it indicate objects that, like the left and right hands, come in two forms made up of equal components that are mirror images of each other but do not superimpose.
Recent work (Pizzarello and Groy 2010) has shown L-ee for lactic acid in several meteorites. This finding was also confirmed by isotopic analyses, however, it represents the only case of ee between hydroxyacids.
The number accompanying the meteorite’s family abbreviation indicates the extent of its parent body petrological alteration by water (on scale from 3 to 1, where 3 is least altered).
δ‰ = (R sample − R standard/R standard) × 103, for hydrogen, R = 2H(D)/H and the standard is mean ocean water.
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Acknowledgments
The author’s work described in this article has been supported from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, through grants by the Astrobiology & Exobiology, Cosmochemistry and Origins of the Solar System programs. Meteorite stones were provided by Carleton Moore and Laurence Garvie from the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University (Murchison) and Cecilia Satterwhite, Kevin Righter and the Antarctica Meteorite Working Group (CR2s).
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Pizzarello, S. Prebiotic chemical evolution: a meteoritic perspective. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 22, 153–163 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-011-0124-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-011-0124-6