QUANTIFICATION OF MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS IN THE MURCHISON CARBONACEOUS METEORITE

Although the nature and origin of carbon and its compounds in meteorites have been reviewed by Hayes1 and Nagy2, much of our understanding of carbon and its compounds in carbonaceous chondrites remains speculative. Evidence for the extraterrestrial nature of the solvent-soluble organic matter was first found in the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite 3; this material in the Murchison meteorite and in other meteorites has been identified as amino acids and precursors3-10, monocarboxylic acids11, dicarboxylic acids12, hydrocarbons 6,13,14, amines15, and other organic compounds 16-20. The data suggest a chemical synthesis from simple precursors. Although the mechanisms by which these organic compounds were formed are unknown, theories (such as Fischer-Tropsch Type (FTT)21 and discharge reactions22) have been proposed to account for their presence. Knowledge of the distribution of isomers in these chondrites is essential for understanding the mechanism of synthesis, and we report here the quantification of some of the branched- and straight-chain isomers of the monocarboxylic acids extracted from the Murchison meteorite. © 1979 Nature Publishing Group.