Ion–Molecule Reactions as a Possible Synthetic Route for the Formation of Prebiotic Molecules in Space

International audienceThanks to many astrophysical observations, the number of prebiotic molecules observed in space is growing daily. Organic molecules, which can be the first building blocks for appearance of life, were found in both interstellar medium and comets. As an example, several molecules with the peptide bond moiety were reported, like formamide and urea. The glycine detection has a long and controversial history, and it was recently reported on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A general question concerns how these molecules could be formed given the extreme conditions of space. Theoretical chemistry, combined in some cases with laboratory experiments, can help in quantifying the physical chemistry conditions which can allow their synthesis. Here, we summarize some studies on the particular case of ion-molecule collisions