Static compression of organic materials under low temperature and ultra high pressure conditions to examine the chemical evolution in the interior of ice satellites

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25287147
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Geochemistry/Cosmochemistry
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Mimura Koichi 名古屋大学, 環境学研究科, 准教授 (80262848)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 鍵 裕之 東京大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (70233666)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 氷衛星 / 低温超高圧 / 有機物 / 生命の起源 / ベンゼン / アラニン / ナフタレン / 加圧濃縮

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We performed the static compression of organic materials at low temperature, in order to examine the behavior of organic materials in the interior of ice satellites. Several starting materials (benzene, naphthalene, and alanine) changed into their polymers under low-temperature and ultra high-pressure conditions. The experiment using the aqueous solution of alanine as a starting material showed that even though the production of peptides was the dehydration, alanine peptides were produced from the solution. This result indicates that the concentration process can occur when the alanine solution freezes into high-pressure phases of ice, which may enhance the polymerization of alanine. The results described above suggest that the interior of satellites can be a field in which the chemical evolution occurs.

Free Research Field

地球化学