Solid state radiolysis of amino acids in an astrochemical perspective

The aliphatic amino acids l-alanine and l-leucine and the aromatic amino acids l-phenylalanine, l-tyrosine and l-tryptophan were irradiated in the solid state to a dose of 3.2 MGy. The degree of decomposition was measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Furthermore the degree of radioracemization was measured by optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) spectroscopy. From the DSC measurement a radiolysis rate constant k and the half life T 1/2 for each amino acid have been determined and extrapolated to a dose of 14 MGy, which corresponds to the expected total dose delivered by the decay of radionuclides to the organic molecules present in comets and asteroids in 4.6×10 9 years, the age of the Solar System. It is shown that all the amino acids studied can survive a radiation dose of 14 MGy although they are reduced to 1/4–1/5 of their original value they had at the beginning of the history of the Solar System. Consequently, the amount of alanine or leucine found today in the meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites is just 1/4–1/5 of the amount originally present at the epoch of the formation of the Solar System 4.6×10 9 years ago. Among the amino acids studied, tyrosine shows the highest radiation resistance while tryptophan does not combine its relatively high radiation resistance with an elevated level of radioracemization resistance. Apart from the exception of tryptophan, it is shown that the radiolysis rate constants k of all the amino acids studied are in reasonable agreement with the radioracemization rate constant k rac.