Prebiotic chemical evolution: a meteoritic perspective

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.