Lucas F Rodríguez-Almeida1, Izaskun Jimenéz-Serra1, Víctor M Rivilla1,2, Jesús Martín-Pintado1, Shaoshan Zeng3, Belén Tercero4, Pablo de Vicente4, Laura Colzi1,2, Fernando Rico-Villas1, Sergio Martín5,6, Miguel A Requena-Torres7,8. 1. Centro de Astrobiolog'a (CSIC-INTA), Ctra Ajalvir km 4, 28850, Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain. 2. INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125, Florence, Italy. 3. Star and Planet Formation Laboratory, Cluster for Pioneering Research, RIKEN,2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan. 4. Observatorio de Yebes (IGN), Cerro de la Palera s/n, 19141, Guadalajara, Spain. 5. Eureopean Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura 763 0355, Santiago, Chile. 6. Joint ALMA Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura 763 0355, Santiago, Chile. 7. University of Maryland, College Park, ND 20742-2421, USA. 8. Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University, MD 21252, USA.
Abstract
The chemical compounds carrying the thiol group (-SH) have been considered essential in recent prebiotic studies regarding the polymerization of amino acids. We have searched for this kind of compounds toward the Galactic Centre quiescent cloud G+0.693-0.027. We report the first detection in the interstellar space of the trans-isomer of monothioformic acid (t-HC(O)SH) with an abundance of ~ 1 × 10-10. Additionally, we provide a solid confirmation of the gauche isomer of ethyl mercaptan (g-C2H5SH) with an abundance of ~ 3 × 10-10, and we also detect methyl mercaptan (CH3SH) with an abundance of ~ 5 × 10-9. Abundance ratios were calculated for the three SH-bearing species and their OH-analogues, revealing similar trends between alcohols and thiols with increasing complexity. Possible chemical routes for the interstellar synthesis of t-HC(O)SH, CH3SH and C2H5SH are discussed, as well as the relevance of these compounds in the synthesis of prebiotic proteins in the primitive Earth.
The chemical compounds carrying the n class="Chemical">thiol group (-SH) have been considered essential in recent prebiotic studies regarding the polymerization of amino acids. We have searched for this kind of compounds toward the Galactic Centre quiescent cloud G+0.693-0.027. We report the first detection in the interstellar space of the trans-isomer of monothioformic acid (t-HC(O)SH) with an abundance of ~ 1 × 10-10. Additionally, we provide a solid confirmation of the gauche isomer of ethyl mercaptan (g-C2H5SH) with an abundance of ~ 3 × 10-10, and we also detect methyl mercaptan (CH3SH) with an abundance of ~ 5 × 10-9. Abundance ratios were calculated for the three SH-bearing species and their OH-analogues, revealing similar trends between alcohols and thiols with increasing complexity. Possible chemical routes for the interstellar synthesis of t-HC(O)SH, CH3SH and C2H5SH are discussed, as well as the relevance of these compounds in the synthesis of prebiotic proteins in the primitive Earth.
Entities:
Keywords:
Astrochemistry; Chemical abundance; Galactic Centre; Interstellar molecules
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