Chemists have integrated “superalcohols,” previously thought to be too volatile to exist. Molecules form under extreme “space-like” conditions and can shed light on the complex reactions needed to form extraterrestrial lifespan.
Superalcohols are called metanetetrol and are the only alcohols with four oxygen and hydrogen groups around a single carbon atom. It is considered to be an important building block of space life. “This research pushes the boundaries of what we know about chemistry in space,” said Ralf Kaiser, co-author of the study, a chemist at the University of Hawaii, in a statement.
Metanetetrol is a type of orthoacid, a class of compounds considered important in early chemistry. However, these compounds are difficult to separate and study. For example, the number of oxygen bonds in metanetetrol is highly unstable and is likely to decompose if not in certain environmental conditions.
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Metanetetrol does not occur naturally on Earth, but scientists have theorized about its existence and chemical structure for over a century, according to the statement.
To emulate how metanetetrol forms in space, researchers administered water and carbon dioxide to a minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 268 degrees Celsius) cryocker, exposing the mixture to cosmic ray-like radiation, triggering the necessary chemical reactions to link these molecules together.
Using ultraviolet rays, the team then detected a small amount of super alcohol in a gaseous form. They revealed their findings in a study published in the journal Nature Communications on July 14th.
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This work “pushes experimental and detection capabilities into the ‘final frontier’. This is beyond the next level that could previously be achieved due to the lack of experimental and computational approaches,” Kaiser said in a separate statement.
“Prebiotic Bomb”
Now that they can study metanetetrol, star biologists can learn how this alcohol is synthesized and reacts with other molecules in their coldest parts, such as dust clouds where stars and planets form.
“You have this compact carbon oxygen molecule that you really want to go to the ‘boom’,” said Ryan Fortenberry, a hoshiko chemist at the University of Mississippi, in a statement. “And when it’s done, when it gives you all sorts of energy, there’s water, hydrogen peroxide and many other potential compounds that are important to life.”
Metanetetrol, he explained, is similar to “the species of a biological molecule.” “That could lead to more complicated chemistry if given the opportunity.”
Fortenberry compared alcohol to acorns, which cannot grow into trees on its own, but to do so requires proper conditions and reaction. “It’s like a prebiotic bomb,” he said.
Chemists concluded that metaneterol could also form in space, as it could be formed under conditions like the lab universe. “If we can find a place where metanetetrol naturally forms, we know that it’s a place with potential building blocks that support life,” Fortenberry said.
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