INFLUENCE OF MURCHISON OR ALLENDE MINERALS ON HYDROGEN-DEUTERIUM EXCHANGE OF AMINO ACIDS

Abstract

Deuterium-enriched amino acids occur in the Murchison carbonaceous chrondrite. This meteorite underwent a period of aqueous alteration with isotopically light water. With the objective of setting limits on the conditions of aqueous alteration, the exchange of the carbon-bonded hydrogen atoms of amino acids with D2O has been studied from 295 to 380 K as a function of time and meteorite/heavy water ratio. The amount of Murchison or Allende dust present has a significant effect on the rate and amount of hydrogen-deuterium exchange observed. At elevated temperatures, the α-hydrogens of all the amino acids studied were found to exchange with deuterium. In glycine and aspartic acid, this process resulted in total exchange of the carbon-bonded hydrogen. A completely deuterated isotopomer of alanine was produced in significant quantities only when the rock/water ratio was greater than 0.5. No exchange of carbon-bonded hydrogens was observed in the case of amino acids which do not possess an α-hydrogen atom. The rates of H/D exchange for amino acids observed here did not correspond to deuterium enrichment of the amino acids in the Murchison meteorite. These results suggest that H/D exchange with water had a negligible effect on the observed deuterium enrichment of amino acids found in Murchison and that the temperature at which the amino acids were exposed to liquid water was close to 273 K.