Researchers shed light on how key ingredient for life may form in space

[oldpaddoboy]

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-key-ingredient-life-space.html

Researchers shed light on how key ingredient for life may form in space: 

 

This graphic depicts methanol's chemical structure (CH₃OH) breaking down into hydroxymethylene (HCOH), 

 

"A team led by University of Maryland chemists discovered a new way to create carbenes, a class of highly reactive yet notoriously short-lived and unstable molecules. Involved in many high-energy chemical reactions such as the creation of carbohydrates, carbenes are crucial precursors to the building blocks of life on Earth—and possibly in space.  

 

The scientists successfully formed a carbene called hydroxymethylene (HCOH) by breaking down methanol (a common alcohol found in many industrial chemicals like formaldehyde) with pulses of ultraviolet radiation. The results were published in a paper on May 14, 2024, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"It's surprising to see this carbene come from such a commonplace molecule like methanol—we have squirt bottles of it in labs everywhere," said Leah Dodson, an assistant professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMD and senior author of the paper.

Carbene species play an integral role in high-energy chemistry, transition-metal-carbene chemistry, catalysis, photolytic formation of carbohydrates, and possibly even the formation of interstellar sugars. In 1921, “reactive formaldehyde”─now known as hydroxymethylene (HCOH)─was first implicated as an intermediate in photocatalytic processes. However, due to its transient nature, direct observation of HCOH has predominantly been attained using cryogenic isolation methods. As a result, HCOH gas-phase reactivity measurements have been limited. We directly observed HCOH using photoionization spectroscopy following UV photodissociation of methanol. Our measurements show it reacts slowly with O₂ at room temperature. This work provides evidence for the formation mechanism of HCOH from CH₃OH and its subsequent reactivity under gas-phase reaction conditions."

more at link:

The paper:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.4c03090#

ABSTRACT:

 "Carbene species play an integral role in high-energy chemistry, transition-metal-carbene chemistry, catalysis, photolytic formation of carbohydrates, and possibly even the formation of interstellar sugars. In 1921, “reactive formaldehyde”─now known as hydroxymethylene (HCOH)─was first implicated as an intermediate in photocatalytic processes. However, due to its transient nature, direct observation of HCOH has predominantly been attained using cryogenic isolation methods. As a result, HCOH gas-phase reactivity measurements have been limited. We directly observed HCOH using photoionization spectroscopy following UV photodissociation of methanol. Our measurements show it reacts slowly with O₂ at room temperature. This work provides evidence for the formation mechanism of HCOH from CH₃OH and its subsequent reactivity under gas-phase reaction conditions."

[Vmedvil]

On 5/17/2024 at 4:30 PM, oldpaddoboy said:

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-key-ingredient-life-space.html

Researchers shed light on how key ingredient for life may form in space: 

 

This graphic depicts methanol's chemical structure (CH₃OH) breaking down into hydroxymethylene (HCOH), 

 

"A team led by University of Maryland chemists discovered a new way to create carbenes, a class of highly reactive yet notoriously short-lived and unstable molecules. Involved in many high-energy chemical reactions such as the creation of carbohydrates, carbenes are crucial precursors to the building blocks of life on Earth—and possibly in space.  

 

The scientists successfully formed a carbene called hydroxymethylene (HCOH) by breaking down methanol (a common alcohol found in many industrial chemicals like formaldehyde) with pulses of ultraviolet radiation. The results were published in a paper on May 14, 2024, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"It's surprising to see this carbene come from such a commonplace molecule like methanol—we have squirt bottles of it in labs everywhere," said Leah Dodson, an assistant professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMD and senior author of the paper.

Carbene species play an integral role in high-energy chemistry, transition-metal-carbene chemistry, catalysis, photolytic formation of carbohydrates, and possibly even the formation of interstellar sugars. In 1921, “reactive formaldehyde”─now known as hydroxymethylene (HCOH)─was first implicated as an intermediate in photocatalytic processes. However, due to its transient nature, direct observation of HCOH has predominantly been attained using cryogenic isolation methods. As a result, HCOH gas-phase reactivity measurements have been limited. We directly observed HCOH using photoionization spectroscopy following UV photodissociation of methanol. Our measurements show it reacts slowly with O₂ at room temperature. This work provides evidence for the formation mechanism of HCOH from CH₃OH and its subsequent reactivity under gas-phase reaction conditions."

more at link:

The paper:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.4c03090#

ABSTRACT:

 "Carbene species play an integral role in high-energy chemistry, transition-metal-carbene chemistry, catalysis, photolytic formation of carbohydrates, and possibly even the formation of interstellar sugars. In 1921, “reactive formaldehyde”─now known as hydroxymethylene (HCOH)─was first implicated as an intermediate in photocatalytic processes. However, due to its transient nature, direct observation of HCOH has predominantly been attained using cryogenic isolation methods. As a result, HCOH gas-phase reactivity measurements have been limited. We directly observed HCOH using photoionization spectroscopy following UV photodissociation of methanol. Our measurements show it reacts slowly with O₂ at room temperature. This work provides evidence for the formation mechanism of HCOH from CH₃OH and its subsequent reactivity under gas-phase reaction conditions."

I agree with this assessment. It is probably how it formed.