Organic molecules in interstellar space: Latest advances

M Guélin, J Cernicharo - Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 2022 - frontiersin.org
Although first considered as too diluted for the formation of molecules in-situ and too harsh
an environment for their survival, the interstellar medium has turned out to host a rich palette …

Chirality and the origin of life

F Devínsky - Symmetry, 2021 - mdpi.com
The origin of life, based on the homochirality of biomolecules, is a persistent mystery. Did life
begin by using both forms of chirality, and then one of the forms disappeared? Or did the …

Hydrogen Abstraction/Addition Tunneling Reactions Elucidate the Interstellar H2NCHO/HNCO Ratio and H2 Formation

KA Haupa, G Tarczay, YP Lee - Journal of the American Chemical …, 2019 - ACS Publications
Formamide (H2NCHO) is the smallest molecule possessing the biologically important amide
bond. Recent interstellar observations have shown a strong correlation between the …

One-pot hydrogen cyanide-based prebiotic synthesis of canonical nucleobases and glycine initiated by high-velocity impacts on early Earth

M Ferus, P Rimmer, G Cassone, A Knížek, S Civiš… - Astrobiology, 2020 - liebertpub.com
Chemical environments of young planets are assumed to be significantly influenced by
impacts of bodies lingering after the dissolution of the protoplanetary disk. We explore the …

Ab initio molecular dynamics studies of the electric-field-induced catalytic effects on liquids

G Cassone, J Sponer, F Saija - Topics in Catalysis, 2022 - Springer
Electric fields produce a range of effects by interacting with atoms, molecules, and complex
matter modifying the activation barriers of chemical reactions, shaping their free-energy …

Prebiotic synthesis initiated in formaldehyde by laser plasma simulating high-velocity impacts

M Ferus, F Pietrucci, AM Saitta, O Ivanek… - Astronomy & …, 2019 - aanda.org
Context. It is well known that hydrogen cyanide and formamide can universally be
considered as key molecules in prebiotic synthesis. Despite the fact that formamide has …

Infrared spectra of small radicals for exoplanetary spectroscopy: OH, NH, CN and CH: The state of current knowledge

S Civiš, A Pastorek, M Ferus, SN Yurchenko… - Molecules, 2023 - mdpi.com
In this study, we present a current state-of-the-art review of middle-to-near IR emission
spectra of four simple astrophysically relevant molecular radicals—OH, NH, CN and CH. The …

Photofragmentation specificity of photoionized cyclic amino acids (diketopiperazines) as precursors of peptide building blocks

D Barreiro-Lage, J Chiarinelli, P Bolognesi… - Physical Chemistry …, 2023 - pubs.rsc.org
The photoionisation and photofragmentation of the two cyclic dipetides cyclo (alanyl-glycine)
cGA and cyclo (glycyl-glycine) cGG, have been studied combining experiments and …

Formation of Formamide from HCN + H2O: A Computational Study on the Roles of a Second H2O as a Catalyst, as a Spectator, and as a Reactant

N Darla, D Sharma, S Sitha - The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2019 - ACS Publications
Formamide (NH2CHO), being the smallest and fundamental building block of life (with a
peptide linkage), has recently been able to attract much interests, in the field of …

Catalyzed reaction of isocyanates (RNCO) with water

ME Wolf, JE Vandezande, HF Schaefer - Physical Chemistry Chemical …, 2021 - pubs.rsc.org
The reactions between substituted isocyanates (RNCO) and other small molecules (eg
water, alcohols, and amines) are of significant industrial importance, particularly for the …