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Recipe for cosmic glycerol revealed by Dutch scientists

"If you systematically allow reaction products along this reaction chain to react with each other, more complex molecules are formed," astrophysicist Harold Linnartz said.

By Brooks Hays
Researchers have discovered how glycerol could be conceived inside dark interstellar clouds. Photo by Harold Linnartz
Researchers have discovered how glycerol could be conceived inside dark interstellar clouds. Photo by Harold Linnartz

June 23 (UPI) -- How is glycerol synthesized inside dark, dense interstellar clouds? Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands have discovered the recipe.

Space is full of secrets. Every year, astronomers identify the signatures of elements not previously observed in space. The hard part is figuring out how they formed.

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An improved understanding of the cosmic chemical palette can help astronomers model life's beginnings on Earth. Glycerol is a key chemical component of living cell membranes.

"The more complex the chemistry in an early evolutionary stage of a star, the greater the chance that the building blocks of life were already available before planets were formed," Leiden astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck said in a news release.

Researchers suggest cosmic glycerol begins life as carbon monoxide molecules, which freeze out on dust particles at very low temperatures.

"It acts as the seed for larger and more complex molecules once it starts interacting with impacting hydrogen atoms," said researcher Gleb Fedoseev.

Previous experiments proved carbon monoxide, when hydrogenated, can react to form four atoms of formaldehyde and six of methanol. Followup experiments proved hydrogenated carbon monoxide can also react to form sugar glycolaldehyde.

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The latest study -- detailed in the Astrophysical Journal -- suggests hydrogenated carbon monoxide can also yield glycerol.

"If you systematically allow reaction products along this reaction chain to react with each other, more complex molecules are formed," astrophysicist Harold Linnartz said. "We now have reached the level of glycerol, two levels higher and we have ribose, a sugar that is important in the coding of our genes."

The team of Leiden researchers worked backwards to reveal the recipe for cosmic glycerol. The element has yet to be observed in space, but researchers hope continued surveys by ALMA, the world's largest radio telescope, will reveal glycerol where it has previously identified glycerol's elemental building blocks.

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