Photochemical Synthesis of Ammonia and Amino Acids from Nitrous Oxide

Abiotic synthesis of ammonia (NH ) and amino acids is important for the origin of life and early evolution. Ammonia and organic nitrogen species may be produced from nitrous oxide (N O), which is a second abundant nitrogen species in the atmosphere. Here, we report a new photochemical experiment and evaluate whether N O can be used as a nitrogen source for prebiotic synthesis in the atmosphere. We conducted a series of experiments by using a gas mixture of N O+CO, N O+CO , or N O + H in the presence of liquid water. The results demonstrate that NH , methylamine (CH NH ), and some amino acids such as glycine, alanine, and serine can be synthesized through photochemistry from N O even without metal catalysts. NH can be produced not only from CO + N O, but also from H +N O. Glycine can be synthesized from CH NH and CO , which can be produced from N O and CO under ultraviolet irradiation. Our work demonstrates, for the first time, that N O could be an important nitrogen source and provide a new process for synthesizing ammonia and organic nitrogen species, which has not been previously considered. The contribution of organic synthesis from N O should, therefore, be considered when discussing the prebiotic chemistry on primitive Earth.