Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 114, Issue 11, Pages 2819-2824Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1616019114
Keywords
metalorganic chemistry; meteorites; astrochemistry; Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry; organic evolution
Categories
Funding
- NASA Cosmochemistry Grant [NNX14AM62G]
- Emerging Worlds Grant [NNX16AD34D]
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The rich diversity and complexity of organic matter found in meteorites is rapidly expanding our knowledge and understanding of extreme environments from which the early solar system emerged and evolved. Here, we report the discovery of a hitherto unknown chemical class, dihydroxymagnesium carboxylates [(OH)(2)MgO2CR](-), in meteoritic soluble organic matter. High collision energies, which are required for fragmentation, suggest substantial thermal stability of these Mg-metalorganics (CHOMg compounds). This was corroborated by their higher abundance in thermally processed meteorites. CHOMg compounds were found to be present in a set of 61 meteorites of diverse petrological classes. The appearance of this CHOMg chemical class extends the previously investigated, diverse set of CHNOS molecules. A connection between the evolution of organic compounds and minerals is made, as Mg released from minerals gets trapped into organic compounds. These CHOMg metalorganic compounds and their relation to thermal processing in meteorites might shed new light on our understanding of carbon speciation at a molecular level in meteorite parent bodies.
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