Aliphatic hydrocarbons of the Murchison meteorite

Journal Article · Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(90)90020-L· OSTI ID:6162033

Cronin, J R; Pizzarello, S ^[1]

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1. Arizona State Univ., Tempe (USA)

The indigenous organic compounds of carbonaceous chondrites have been difficult to characterize because of problems arising from terrestrial contamination. The fall of the Murchison meteorite (CM2) provided pristine samples which allowed the resolution of some prior ambiguities as, for example, in the case of the amino acids. However, the nature of the aliphatic hydrocarbons has remained unclear. Shortly after the Murchison fall, one laboratory found them to be mainly cycloalkanes; another found, in order of abundance, branched alkanes, olefins, and cycloalkanes; while a third reported predominantly n-alkanes followed by methyl alkanes and olefins. The authors have reinvestigated this question using benzene-methanol as the extraction solvent, silica-gel chromatography for fractionation of the extract, and GC-MS, and IR and NMR spectroscopic techniques for the analyses. When interior samples were obtained and the analyses carried out under conditions that minimized environmental contaminants, they have found the principal aliphatic components of the Murchison meteorite to be a structurally diverse suite of C{sub 15} to C{sub 30} branched alkyl-substituted mono-, di-, and tricyclic alkanes. Comparative analyses were carried out on the Murray (CM2), Allende (CV3), and New Concord (L6) chondrites that illustrate the nature of the contamination problem encountered with carbonaceous chondrites.

• OSTI ID: 6162033
• Journal Information: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (USA), Vol. 54:10; ISSN 0016-7037
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CHONDRITES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
ALKANES
CYCLOALKANES
FRACTIONATION
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
GEL PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
HYDROCARBONS
MAGNETIC RESONANCE
METEORITES
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
RESONANCE
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPECTROSCOPY
STONE METEORITES
580000* - Geosciences