In our laboratory we are currently bringing a new UHV setup to production. We will present this setup which enables us to reach conditions similar to those present in dense molecular clouds (T = 10 K, ρN = 105 cm-3). In combination with our laser ablation setup, which we use to produce realistic carbonaecous and silicate dust analoga, we will use the UHV setup to study the chemical...
The TMC-1 Molecular Cloud in Taurus has been used as astrochemical laboratory to test new approaches in computational chemistry to predict molecular abundances in interstellar space. TMC-1 has been observed to contain a large variety of complex molecules such as acids, alcohols and hydrocarbons. In the laboratory, the synthesis of such prebiotic molecules has been confirmed to occur when...
Formamide has been detected in many stellar and interstellar objects like the comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp),1 in the solid phase of dust grains around the young stellar object W33A2 and in the interstellar medium in general3. Formamide is proposed to be a key-molecule in the abiotic formation of important biomolecules4 and may be brought to planet...
The formation of methanol (CH3OH) on icy grains in cold interstellar clouds is generally related to hydrogenation reactions during the catastrophic CO freeze–out stage. This explains why CO and CH3OH are mixed in interstellar ices. Yet there are reasons to believe that CH3OH can also form at an earlier period of interstellar ice evolution in CO–poor and H2O–rich ices. Here we present a...
There is a growing evidence that our Sun was born in a rich cluster that also contained massive stars (Adams, 2010; Taquet et al. 2016). Therefore, the study of the chemical content and chemical processes (such as fractionation) in high-mass star-forming regions is key to understand our chemical heritage. We are thus undertaking a huge observational effort to derive the $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N...
Phosphorus is one of the crucial elements for life. It plays a central role in the structure of essential biotic molecules, such as nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), phospholipids (the skin of all cellular membranes) and the adenosine triphosphate (ATP), from which all forms of life assume energy (Pasek & Lauretta 2005).
Despite its importance, the chemistry of Phosphorus in the interstellar...
The simplest amino acid, glycine, has recently been identified on the comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) [Altwegg et al., 2016]. Independent on how this and likely other amino acids have been formed - in-situ or inherited along the different chemical stages during comet formation in the Solar Nebula - the ice embedded amino acids have been exposed to radiation, including vacuum ultraviolet...
Hot cores are ideal laboratories for the formation of complex organic molecules. Here, we present a detailed observational and modeling study of the chemistry in the prototypical hot core region AFGL 2591. It evolves in unique conditions being isolated from other young OB stars with strong UV radiation. This region is part of the NOEMA (Northern Extended Millimeter Array) large program CORE...
Many chemical reactions occur at the surface of interstellar dust grains, producing a large diversity of molecules more or less complex. Most current astrochemical models include only a single size of grains (0.1 micron representing most of the mass of silicate grains) to study the formation and destruction of molecules on the dust surface. We have studied the effect of considering a...
An out-of-equilibrium physical environment can drive chemical reactions into thermodynamically unfavorable regimes. Under prebiotic conditions such a coupling between physical and chemical non-equilibria may have enabled the spontaneous emergence of primitive evolutionary processes. Here, we study the coupling efficiency within a theoretical model that is inspired by recent laboratory...
Protostellar envelopes are usually approximated as spherical dense and cold regions around early-type stars during the initial phases of star formation. Such regions can harbour volatile and non-volatile astrophysical ices with desorption temperatures between 20 – 150 K. However, little is known about the role of external irradiation for the survival of ices in protostellar envelopes. In...
Many interstellar molecules are known to have essential functions in terrestrial biochemistry. Observations of prebiotically important COMs thus enable us to better understand the origin of primitive organic materials found in our Solar System. Glycine and pyrimidine, the simplest amino acid and the building blocks of nucleic acid, respectively, were both detected in meteorites and comets....
