A University of Arizona team is reporting the first experimental evidence showing how atmospheric nitrogen can be incorporated into organic macromolecules. The finding indicates what organic molecules might be found on Titan, the moon of Saturn that scientists think is a model for the chemistry of pre-life Earth.
Earth and Titan are the only known planetary-sized bodies that have thick, predominantly nitrogen atmospheres, said Hiroshi Imanaka, who conducted the research while a member of UA’s chemistry and biochemistry department.
How complex organic molecules become nitrogenated in settings like early Earth or Titan’s atmosphere is a big mystery, Imanaka said.
“Titan is so interesting because its nitrogen-dominated atmosphere and organic chemistry might give us a clue to the origin of life on our Earth,” said Imanaka, now an assistant research scientist in the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. “Nitrogen is an essential element of life.”
However, not just any nitrogen will do. Nitrogen gas must be converted to a more chemically active form of nitrogen that can drive the reactions that form the basis of biological systems.
