The Tagish Lake chondrite and the interstellar parent body hypothesis

Investigation of the solvent extractable organic compounds in Tagish Lake. The results are used to test the interstellar parent body hypthesis for the origin of extraterrestrial organic matter

Separation of Q-Noble gas carrier from bulk carbon in enstatite chondrites by stepped combustion

Detailed stepped combustion of HF-HCl residues from carbonaceous and enstatite chondrites suggest Q-noble gas carrier is different from bulk carbon in the meteorites

Thermochemolysis of the Murchison meteorite: identification of oxygen bound and occluded units in the organic macromolecule

An organic macromolecular residue, prepared from the Murchison meteorite by treatment with hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acids, was subjected to online thermochemolysis with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The most abundant compound released by thermochemolysis was benzoic acid. Other abundant compounds include methyl and dimethyl benzoic acids as well as methoxy benzoic acids. Short chain dicarboxylic acids (C4–8) were also released from the organic macromolecule. Within the C1 and C2 benzoic acids all possible structural isomers are present reflecting the abiotic origin of these units. The most abundant isomers include 3,4-dimethylbenzoic acid (DMBA), 3,5-DMBA, 2,6-DMBA and phenylacetic acid. Thermochemolysis also liberates hydrocarbons that are not observed during thermal desorption; these compounds include naphthalene, methylnaphthalenes, biphenyl, methylbiphenyls, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene and pyrene. The lack of oxygen containing functional groups in these hydrocarbons indicates that they represent non-covalently bound, occluded molecules within the organic framework. This data provides a valuable insight into oxygen bound and physically occluded moieties in the Murchison organic macromolecule and implies a relative order of synthesis or agglomeration for the detected organic constituents

Analysis of conjugated steroid androgens: Deconjugation, derivatisation and associated issues

AbstractGas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is the preferred technique for the detection of urinary steroid androgens for drug testing in athletics. Excreted in either the glucuronide or sulfated conjugated form, steroids must first undergo deconjugation followed by derivatisation to render them suitable for GC analysis. Discussed herein are the deconjugation and the derivatisation preparative options. The analytical challenges surrounding these preparatory approaches, in particular the inability to cleave the sulfate moiety have led to a focus on testing protocols that reply on glucuronide conjugates. Other approaches which alleviate the need for deconjugation and derivatisation are also highlighted

The chances of detecting life on Mars

AbstractMissions to Mars progressively reveal the past and present habitability of the red planet. The current priority for Mars science is the recognition of definitive biosignatures related to past or present life. Success of life detection missions requires choices of the best mission design, location on Mars and particular sample to be analyzed. It is essential therefore to incorporate as much information as possible into the mission planning stages to maximize the precious opportunities provided by robotic operation on Mars. Bayesian statistics allow us to accommodate the many unknowns associated with a mission that has yet to take place. We have used Bayesian statistics to reveal that although in situ missions are less complex the overall probabilities of a successful mission to detect biosignatures on Mars are higher for sample return. If a mission has been designed with safe landing and operation as a priority, recognizing and avoiding those samples that do not contain the target biosignature is the most important characteristic, while for a mission where the best possible samples have been targeted the probability that the sample contains the target biosignature and that it can be correctly detected is the most dominant issue. Usefully, Bayesian statistics can be used to evaluate the chances of detecting past or present life for missions to different landing sites on Mars. A comparative assessment of Eberswelde Crater and Gale Crater indicates a higher probability of success for the latter and the probabilities of success are consistently higher for the sample return mission variant. Bayesian statistics, therefore, can inform future Mars mission planning steps to help maximize the possibility of success

Molecular, isotopic and <i>in situ</i> analytical approaches to the study of meteoritic organic material

Organic materials isolated from carbonaceous meteorites provide us with a record of pre-biotic chemistry in the early Solar System. Molecular, isotopic and in situ studies of these materials suggest that a number of extraterrestrial environments have contributed to the inventory of organic matter in the early Solar System including interstellar space, the Solar nebula and meteorite parent bodies. There are several difficulties that have to be overcome in the study of the organic constituents of meteorites. Contamination by terrestrial biogenic organic matter is an ever-present concern and a wide variety of contaminant molecules have been isolated and identified including essential plant oils, derived from either biological sources or common cleaning products, and aliphatic hydrocarbons, most probably derived from petroleum-derived pollutants. Only 25% of the organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites is amenable to extraction with organic solvents; the remainder is present as a complex macromolecular aromatic network that has required the development of analytical approaches that can yield structural and isotopic information on this highly complex material. Stable isotopic studies have been of paramount importance in understanding the origins of meteoritic organic matter and have provided evidence for the incorporation of interstellar molecules within meteoritic material. Extending isotopic studies to the molecular level is yielding new insights into both the sources of meteoritic organic matter and the processes that have modified it. Organic matter in meteorites is intimately associated with silicate minerals and the in situ examination of the relationships between organic and inorganic components is crucial to our understanding of the role of asteroidal processes in the modification of organic matter and, in particular, the role of water as both a solvent and a reactant on meteorite parent bodies

Biomedical and Forensic Applications of Combined Catalytic Hydrogenation-Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis

Studies of biological molecules such as fatty acids and the steroid hormones have the potential to benefit enormously from stable carbon isotope ratio measurements of individual molecules. In their natural form, however, the body’s molecules interact too readily with laboratory equipment designed to separate them for accurate measurements to be made. Some methods overcome this problem by adding carbon to the target molecule, but this can irreversibly overprint the carbon source ‘signal’. Hydropyrolysis is a newly-applied catalytic technique that delicately strips molecules of their functional groups but retains their carbon skeletons and stereochemistries intact, allowing precise determination of the carbon source. By solving analytical problems, the new technique is increasing the ability of scientists to pinpoint molecular indicators of disease, elucidate metabolic pathways and recognise administered substances in forensic investigations