Purines and triazines in the Murchison meteorite》.pdf

C$~~C~CS et Cosmochimics Acta, 1976, Vol. SB, pp. 471 to 488. Pergamon Preea.PrintedInNorthemIreland Pnrines and triazines inthe Murchison meteorite RYOICHI HAYATSU,* MARTIN H. STUDIER,? LEON P. MOORE-f and EDWARD ANDERS* * Enrico Fermi Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, U.S.A. t Chemistry Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, U.S.A. (Received 29 March 1974; accepted in revisedform 8 August 1974) Abs--Two samples of the Murchison C2 chondrite were examined for organic nitrogen compounds, using mass spectrometry aa well aa paper and thin-layer chromatography. Under mild extraction conditions (water or formic acid) only ahphatic amines and C.J, alkylpyridinee were seen; the latter may be contaminants. Under drastic extraction conditions (hot, 3-6 M HCI or CFaCOOH), a variety of basic nitrogen compounds appeared, in the following amount8 (ppm): adenine (15), guanine (5), melamine (20), cyanuric acid (2O-30), guanylurea (3O-45), urea (25), etc. Apparently these compounds are present mainly in macromolecular material, and are released only upon acid hydrolysis. These findinga support our earlier identifications of these compounds in the Orgueil meteor- ite. They also suggest that the recent failure by FOLSO~ et al. (Nature 232, 108-109, 1971; Beochim. Coemochim. Acta 37, 455-465, 1973) to find purines or triazines in carbonaceous chondrites was due to inadequate extraction conditions: water and formic acid, rather than HCI. Conversely, we were unable to detect the principal compound