Identification of nitrogenous organic species in Titan aerosols analogs: Implication for prebiotic chemistry on Titan and early Earth

Titan has a significant atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen and methane with a significant organic haze component. Its nitrogen-rich atmosphere, abundant organics, and liquid surface make this moon of interest as a prebiotic laboratory at the planetary scale and one of the best targets for studying prebiotic planetary organic chemistry. In our previous work, we have investigated the chemical composition of Titan aerosol analogs (tholins) and identified a variety of nitrogenous organic molecules. Here we continue our structural investigation and identify four important prebiotic molecules in Titan tholins using NMR, GC-MS and standard sample comparison, including aminoacetonitrile, succinonitrile, acetoguanamine and adenine. On the basis of their structural characteristics, we suggest their formation pathways via simple precursors including methanimine (CH2NH), HCN, NH3, CH3CN and C2H2 in laboratory N2CH4 plasma or potentially in Titan's atmosphere. Among these molecules, aminoacetonitrile is a potential precursor of amino acids and peptides, while adenine is a necessary ingredient for DNA and RNA. The identification of these molecules in Titan's organic aerosol analogs increases our knowledge of Titan's organic chemistry and its prebiotic implications.