A comprehensive NMR structural study of Titan aerosol analogs: Implications for Titan’s atmospheric chemistry

• Structural investigation of the bulk of Titan aerosols analogs by NMR.
• Titan aerosols analogs are dominated by heavily nitrogenated compounds.
• 12 complete diverse molecules and 8 structural fragments are identified.
• Highly branched polymeric compounds terminated in methyl, amine, and nitrile groups.
• Copolymerization or incorporation formation mechanisms of small precursors.

Titan has a thick atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen and methane. Complex organic chemistry induced by solar ultraviolet radiation and energetic particles, takes place in Titan’s upper atmosphere, producing an optically thick reddish brown carbon based haze encircling this moon. The chemistry in Titan’s atmosphere and its resulting chemical structures are still not fully understood in spite of a great many efforts being made. In our previous work, we have investigated the structure of the 13C and 15N labeled, simulated Titan haze aerosols (tholin) by NMR and identified several dominant small molecules in the tholin. Here we report our expanded structural investigation of the bulk of the tholin by more comprehensive NMR study. The NMR results show that the tholin materials are dominated by heavily nitrogenated compounds, in which the macromolecular structures are highly branched polymeric or oligomeric compounds terminated in methyl, amine, and nitrile groups. The structural characteristic suggest that the tholin materials are formed via different copolymerization or incorporation mechanisms of small precursors, such as HCN, CH2NH, NH3 and C2H2. This study helps to understand the formation process of nitrogenated organic aerosols in Titan’s atmosphere and their prebiotic implications.