Organometallic Compounds as Carriers of Extraterrestrial Cyanide in Primitive Meteorites

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 2777 - 7
• Main Authors: Smith, Karen E., House, Christopher H., Arevalo, Ricardo D., Jr, Dworkin, Jason P., Callahan, Michael P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Goddard Space Flight Center Nature Research 25.06.2019; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/58; 639/638/169/894; 639/638/904; 704/445/3929; 704/445/849; Abundance; Catalysis; Chondrites; Coordination compounds; Cyanide process; Cyanides; Humanities and Social Sciences; Iron; Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration; Meteorites; Meteors & meteorites; multidisciplinary; Organic compounds; Organometallic compounds; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Abiotic Synthesis; Cyanide
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10866-x

Extraterrestrial delivery of cyanide may have been crucial for the origin of life on Earth since cyanide is involved in the abiotic synthesis of numerous organic compounds found in extant life; however, little is known about the abundance and species of cyanide present in meteorites. Here, we report cyanide abundance in a set of CM chondrites ranging from 50 ± 1 to 2472 ± 38 nmol·g1, which relates to the degree of aqueous alteration of the meteorite and indicates that parent body processing inuenced cyanide abundance. Analysis of the Lewis Cliff 85311 meteorite shows that its releasable cyanide is primarily in the form of [FeII (CN)5(CO)]3 and [FeII(CN)4(CO)2]2-. Meteoritic delivery of iron cyanocarbonyl complexes to early Earth likely provided an important point source of free cyanide. Iron cyanocarbonyl complexes may have served as precursors to the unusual FeII(CN)(CO) moieties that form the catalytic centers of hydrogenases, which are thought to be among the earliest enzymes.