New molecules in space

[buzzausa]

This is the title of an article in the "news of the week" section of this week's Chemical & Engineering News magazine (I have a subscription through the American Chemical Society).

You can check it out at www.CEN-ONLINE.ORG. The original article was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics (DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200811550)

In a nutshell, an international research team has discovered ethyl formate and n-propyl cyanide in a gaseous cloud outside our solar system. These molecules have the same size and complexity as glycine, the simplest aminoacid. Researchers are saying that this "gives impetus to future searches for higher aminoacids [...]". In other words, there's reason to believe that these biological bulding blocks are out there, and if found they would support the idea that prebiotic chemistry exists beyoud our solar system.


I thought this was cool and wanted to share

Also...I can't wait to hear how creationists are going to credit god for this :lol:

 

[JacobEvans]

Are the compounds that they found essential to life? or are they similar to the compounds essential to life?

 

[buzzausa]

Are the compounds that they found essential to life? or are they similar to the compounds essential to life?

The two new compounds found are just as molecularly complex as simple aminoacid. What this is saying is that it is reasonable to expect to find those aminoacids once we get better at looking for them.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

Are the compounds that they found essential to life? or are they similar to the compounds essential to life?

Aminoacids are what proteins are formed from, proteins in turn, are essential in every living organism (excluding the very first ones, perhaps). aminoacids are synthesized in living creatures only, so they guess that these stuff they found, which is similar to simplest aminoacid can have interesting origins.

very interesting by the way, forgot to mention.

 

[JacobEvans]

The two new compounds found are just as molecularly complex as simple aminoacid. What this is saying is that it is reasonable to expect to find those aminoacids once we get better at looking for them.

So these aren't the molecules we are really looking for (aminoacids) they just prove that complex molecules like Aminoacids are probably out there as well?

 

[buzzausa]

So these aren't the molecules we are really looking for (aminoacids) they just prove that complex molecules like Aminoacids are probably out there as well?

Correct

 

[JBeukema]

or that they could form, possibly under similar circumstances as did on Earth.

 

[JacobEvans]

Ok. I understand now.