title: Origins of amino acids in the early solar system.
abstract: Synthesis of meteoritic amino acids probably took place in the aqueous sub-surface regions of one or more asteroid-sized parent bodies.  Starting material for those reactions apparently consisted of a population of more simple compounds including a suite of aliphatic precursors characterised by (1) complete structural diversity, (2) prevalence of branched- over straight-chain species, (3) exponential decrease in abundance with increasing C number, (4) large enrichment in D, and, probably, (5) systematic decrease in 13C/12C with increasing C number.  Those properties were apparently acquired during synthesis of the precursors by ion-molecule reactions in a presolar molecular cloud.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geophysics, UCLA, Los Angeles 90024, USA.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Kerridge
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D003903:Deuterium; D019418:Evolution, Chemical; D018559:Exobiology; D019110:Meteoroids; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D016082:Solar System
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D003903:Deuterium