Miller–Urey spark-discharge experiments in the deuterium world

Cooper, G. J.T. , Surman, A. J. , McIver, J. , Colón-Santos, S. M., Gromski, P. S., Buchwald, S., Suárez Marina, I. and Cronin, L. (2017) Miller–Urey spark-discharge experiments in the deuterium world. Angewandte Chemie (International Edition), 56(28), pp. 8079-8082. (doi: 10.1002/anie.201610837) (PMID:28474773) (PMCID:PMC5499724)

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Abstract

We designed and conducted a series of primordial-soup Miller-Urey style experiments with deuterated gases and reagents to compare the spark-discharge products of a “deuterated world” with the standard reaction in the “hydrogenated world”. While the deuteration of the system has little effect on the distribution of amino acid products, significant differences are seen in other regions of the product-space. Not only do we observe about 120 new species, we also see significant differences in their distribution if the two hydrogen isotope worlds are compared. Several isotopologue matches can be identified in both, but a large proportion of products have no equivalent in the corresponding isotope world with ca. 43 new species in the D world and ca. 39 new species in the H world. This shows that isotopic exchange (the addition of only one neutron) may lead to significant additional complexity in chemical space under otherwise identical reaction conditions.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Gromski, Dr Piotr and McIver, Mr James and Suarez Marina, Miss Irene and Cooper, Dr Geoff and Colon Santos, Ms Stephanie and Cronin, Professor Lee and Surman, Dr Andrew
Authors: Cooper, G. J.T., Surman, A. J., McIver, J., Colón-Santos, S. M., Gromski, P. S., Buchwald, S., Suárez Marina, I., and Cronin, L.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
Journal Name:Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)
Publisher:Wiley
ISSN:1433-7851
ISSN (Online):1521-3773
Published Online:05 May 2017
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2017 The Authors
First Published:First published in Angewandte Chemie (International Edition) 56(28):8079–8082
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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