The single chirality of biological molecules in terrestrial biology raises more questions than
certitudes about its origin. The emergence of biological homochirality (BH) and its …

The search for evidence of extraterrestrial life in our Solar System is currently guided by our
understanding of terrestrial biology and its associated biosignatures. The observed …

Sugars are essential molecules for all terrestrial biota working in many biological processes.
Ribose is particularly essential as a building block of RNA, which could have both stored …

Despite the generally hostile nature of the environments involved, chemistry does occur in
space. Molecules are seen in environments that span a wide range of physical and chemical …

The chemistry of abiotic nucleotide synthesis of RNA and DNA in the context of their
prebiotic origins on early earth is a continuing challenge. How did (or how can) the …

The synthesis of nucleobases in natural environments, especially in interstellar molecular
clouds, is the focus of a long-standing debate regarding prebiotic chemical evolution. Here …

Context. High-quality vibrational spectra of solid-phase molecules in ice mixtures and for
temperatures of astrophysical relevance are needed to interpret infrared observations …

The formation of carbohydrates represents an essential step to provide building blocks and
a source of chemical energy in several models for the emergence of life. Formaldehyde …

It is assumed that RNA played a key role in the origin of life, and the transition to more
complex but more stable DNA for continuous information storage and replication requires …

The detection of complex organic molecules (COMs) toward dense, collapsing prestellar
cores has sparked interest in the fields of astrochemistry and astrobiology, yet the …