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Contenido archivado el 2022-12-23

Stereochemistry of chiral supramolecular clusters. Detection of chiral biomaterials applicable to planetary sampling

Objetivo

To demonstrate the possibility of molecular recognition of chirality in conditions, which mimic extraterrestrial one the participating laboratories plan to perform well concerted molecular chirality recognition experiments on supramolecular organic clusters in the neat gas phase, in size selected media (isolated water and ammonium clusters) and in solution phase by available FT-ICR, FAB MS and liquid chromatography instrumentation, respectively, as installed in Moscow, Kharkov, Garching, and Odense.

For application to planetary sampling of biomaterials different sampling techniques for gas, liquid and solid phases will be developed. The development of methods of chiral recognition is directly connected to the problem of origin of homochirality in biochemical systems, which is one of the most important problems in understanding the general chemical evolution of matter in the cosmos. For deeper understanding of the nature of chiral recognition kinetics and thermodynamics of formation and decomposition of complexes of chiral molecules will be investigated using state of the art mass spectrometry technique and computational methods of quantum chemistry. A principal objective of this project is a search in different classes of chiral compounds for substances recognizing chirality of biologicaly important simple molecules, formed in planetary conditions. At the end of the project the collaborators will have performed a variety of state-of-the-art experiments in fundamental science that provide new insights into chiral effects operational in a class of model compounds important for detection in planetary environments, with special emphasis on amino acids.

They will have correlated their findings on isolated gas phase species to corresponding aqueous clusters and to solution-phase behavior. The participating groups will identify chiral discrimination effects in formation of ion-molecular complexes of amino acids with test chiral molecules, whose choice will be made on the bases of quantum chemistry calculations and results of experimental searches in classes of tartrates and crown ethers. The proposed cooperation will also include evaluating the results on amino acid type systems for their anticipated astrobiological analytic potential. Recommendations on the type and setup of the analytical instrument for chiral analyses, and the specific methodologies, for planetary chemical studies will be worked out. This project will in addition contribute significantly to the knowledge of the nature of chiral asymmetry on the Earth, host-guest interactions of organic and biological molecules, their supramolecular structures, and self-assembly processes. Thus fundamental chemical knowledge will be gained irrespective of future implementation in space exploration efforts. The participating groups will disseminate their findings in international peer-reviewed journals and present them on highly ranked conferences.

Convocatoria de propuestas

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Régimen de financiación

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Coordinador

University of Southern Denmark - Odense University
Aportación de la UE
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Dirección
Campusvej 55
5230 Odense M
Dinamarca

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Coste total
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Participantes (4)