Main description:

Photochemistry is an important facet in the study of the origin of life and prebiotic chemistry. Solar photons are the unique source of the large amounts of energy likely required to initiate the organisation of matter to produce biological life. The Miller-Urey experiment simulated the conditions thought to be present on the early earth and supported the hypothesis that under such conditions complex organic compounds could be synthesised from simpler inorganic precursors. The experiment inspired many others, including the production of various alcohols, aldehydes and organic acids through UV-photolysis of water vapour with carbon monoxide. This book covers the photochemical aspects of the study of prebiotic and origin of life chemistry an ideal companion for postgraduates and researchers in prebiotic chemistry, photochemistry, photobiology, chemical biology and astrochemistry.

Contents:

The Light of Photophysics and Photochemistry; Extraterrestrial Photochemistry: Principles and Applications; Gas-phase Prebiotic Chemistry Driven by Ultraviolet Photolysis of Simple Molecules; Unveiling Early Earth Photochemistry Through Experimental Simulations of Planetary Atmospheres; Rethinking UV-induced Prebiotic Selection of Biomolecules; The Role of Photochemistry in the Prebiotic Model of Formamide; Nucleobases as Molecular Fossils of Prebiotic Photochemistry: Excited-state Dynamics of C2 and C6 Substituted Purines; Comets, Do They Have a Role in Prebiotic Photochemistry?; Life Chooses Homochirality: The Role of Cosmic Dust in Chiral Selection; Interstellar Complex Organic Molecules: A Step Toward Biomolecule Building Blocks in the Skies; The Buried Chemical Wealth of Ices in Protoplanetary Discs; Consequences of Heavy Bombardment on Prebiotic Synthesis; The Birth and Fate of Glycine: From the Interstellar Medium to Primitive Earth; Reconciling the Genetics-first and Metabolism-first Scenarios of the Origin of Life: Cyclic GMP as the Seed of Life;