Chemistry of Life

Where did the chemistry of life originate? New discoveries are helping scientists unlock the secrets of how the molecular precursors to life can form in the giant clouds of gas and dust in which stars and planets are born. The first of the many chemical processes that ultimately led to life on Earth probably took place even before our planet was formed.

The NRAO Green Bank Telescope (GBT) provides the sensitivity needed to detect the weak emission of complex organic molecules, the necessary precursors to life, in dark clouds. To date, eight new molecules have been discovered with the GBT and there are now 141 different molecular species known in interstellar space. About 90 percent of those interstellar molecules contain carbon, which is required for a molecule to be classified as organic. The newly-discovered molecules all contain carbon and are composed of 6 to 11 atoms each. These results suggest that chemical evolution occurs routinely in the gas and dust from which stars and planets eventually are born. The mass of an interstellar cloud is 99 percent gas and one percent dust.

The GBT discoveries have been made in just two interstellar clouds. The molecules acetamide (CH3CONH2), cyclopropenone (H2C3O), propenal (CH2CHCHO), propanal (CH3CH2CHO), and ketenimine (CH2CNH) were found in a cloud called Sagittarius B2(N), which is near the center of our Milky Way Galaxy some 26,000 light years from Earth. This star-forming region is the largest repository of complex interstellar molecules known.

The molecules methyl-cyano-diacetylene (CH3C5N), methyl-triacetylene (CH3C6H), and cyanoallene (CH2CCHCN) were found in the Taurus Molecular Cloud (TMC-1), which is relatively nearby at a distance of 450 light years. The starless TMC-1 cloud is dark and cold with a temperature of only 10 degrees above absolute zero and may eventually evolve into a star-forming region.

Scientists believe that the large molecules found with the GBT are built up from smaller ones by two principal mechanisms. In the first, simple chemical reactions add an atom to a molecular structure residing on the surface of a dust grain. An example of this process is a molecule called cyclopropenylidene (c-C3H2, where "c-" means cyclic), which contains three carbon atoms in a ring. Cyclopropenylidene was discovered in interstellar space in 1987, and is known to be highly reactive. In 2005, using the GBT, scientists discovered another molecule, cyclopropenone (c-H2C3O), which can be produced by adding an oxygen atom to cyclopropenylidene.

The second method for constructing larger molecules from smaller ones involves neutral-radical reactions that can occur within the gas in an interstellar cloud. For example, in 2006, scientists discovered acetamide (CH3CONH2), which can be formed when a previously-discovered neutral molecule called formamide (HCONH2) combines with radicals such as CH2 and CH3, also previously discovered. Acetamide is particularly interesting because it contains a peptide bond which is the means for linking amino acids together to form proteins.

Once interstellar molecules are ejected from dust grains into the gas phase, presumably by shock waves, they are free to rotate end-over-end. As gas molecules change their rotational modes, they can emit or absorb radiation at precise radio frequencies, called transitions, that are unique to each type of molecule. By detecting several rotational transitions, astronomers can unambiguously identify a specific interstellar molecule.

Along the line of sight from an interstellar cloud to the GBT, thousands of billions of molecules undergo the exact same transition, producing a signal strong enough to be detected by sensitive equipment. The GBT is the world's most sensitive tool for this research.