We will conduct amino acid experiments at hydrothermal conditions to facilitate racemization on laboratory timescales, operating over a range of 100-200 c so that temperature-dependent rates for…

This is a $531,193 federal grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Arizona State University (ASU) to conduct research on amino acid experiments at hydrothermal conditions. The principal investigator, Dr. Robinson, is an expert in hydrothermal organic chemistry and will lead the experiments with support from co-investigators Dr. Shock and Dr. Hartnett, who have expertise in aqueous thermodynamics and experimental design/analysis. The research will focus on facilitating racemization on laboratory timescales and quantifying temperature-dependent rates for kinetic isotope fractionation. Preliminary analysis will be conducted at ASU, with more in-depth measurements of enantiomeric abundance and deuterium fractionation performed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This 3-year grant project does not have any set-aside designations.

We will conduct amino acid experiments at hydrothermal conditions to facilitate racemization on laboratory timescales, operating over a range of 100-200 c so that temperature-dependent rates for kinetic isotope fractionation can be quantified and extrapolated to lower temperatures. PI robinson is an expert in hydrothermal organic chemistry with experience derivatizing amino acids for analysis, modeling temperature-dependent reaction rates, and analyzing chiral compounds. He will conduct the experiments with input from CO-is shock and hartnett, who have respective expertise in aqueous thermodynamics and experimental design/ analysis. Hydrothermal experiments and preliminary analysis of enantiomer abundances will be conducted at arizona state university to select samples for in-depth analysis at woods hole oceanographic institution by CO-i seewald and research specialist sylva, who will conduct tandem measurements of enantiomeric abundance and 2H fractionation.