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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - Primitive pigment systems in the prebiotic environmentThe chemical evolution of meteoritic organics in the primitive earth is examined experimentally with attention given to the photochemical effects of hydrocarbon/water mixtures. Also addressed are the generation of amphiphilic products by photochemical reactions and the transduction of light energy into potentially useful forms. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) absorb light and exist in carbonaceous chondrites; PAHs are therefore examined as primitive pigments by means of salt solutions with pyrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene derivatives with hexadecane. The hexadecane undergoes photochemical oxidation and yields long-chain amphiphiles with oxygen supplied by water, and acid pH shifts also occur. PAHs are also tested in lipid bilayer membranes to examine light-energy transduction. Protons are found to accumulate within the membrane-bounded volume to form proton gradients, and this reaction is theorized to be a good model of primitive photochemical reactions that related to the transduction of light energy into useable forms.
Document ID
19920038332
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Deamer, D. W.
(California, University Davis, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Advances in Space Research
Volume: 12
Issue: 4 19
ISSN: 0273-1177
Subject Category
Space Biology
Accession Number
92A20956
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-1119
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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