arXiv subjects

Emilio J. Cocinero

Publications and source records attributed to Emilio J. Cocinero.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Detection of a four-carbon sugar in interstellar space

Sugars are essential biomolecules, serving as metabolic fuels, nucleic acid backbone components, and structural or energy-storage polymers. A central question in origin-of-life research is how monosaccharides formed on the primitive Earth, as laboratory experiments under prebiotic conditions yield insufficient concentrations. The detection of ribose, glucose and other monosaccharides in asteroids and meteorites suggests an exogenous origin, possibly in the interstellar medium (ISM) prior to meteoritic parent-body formation. However, no sugar has been observed in the ISM so far. We report the discovery of erythrulose, a chiral four-carbon ketose, in the ISM. The detection has been achieved thanks to ultrasensitive, broadband spectral surveys toward the Galactic Center molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 obtained using the Yebes 40m and IRAM 30m telescopes. Erythrulose appears to be at least eight times more abundant than analogous three-carbon sugars, which remain undetected in our ultrasensitive observations. Quantum chemical and astrochemical models indicate that erythrulose forms efficiently on interstellar dust grains from simpler two-carbon aldehydes and alcohols. As ketoses readily isomerize into aldoses in aqueous conditions, interstellar erythrulose could have contributed to the sugar inventory available for early metabolic and replication processes.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

The Emergence of Prebiotic Chemistry in the ISM

Contrary to popular belief, the interstellar medium (ISM) is not empty; it is filled with atoms, dust particles, and molecules. Some of these molecules may have been the very building blocks of life that, delivered to Earth via comets and meteorites, could have given rise to Life itself. A large-area single-dish telescope with superb sensitivity, field-of-view and multi-band instruments will allow us to explore the limits of chemical complexity in the interstellar medium, across our Galaxy and in external galaxies, determining whether amino acids, sugars, or RNA/DNA nucleobases can form in space.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

The SKA as a prebiotic molecule detector

One of the theories for the origin of life proposes that a significant fraction of prebiotic material could have arrived to Earth from outer space between 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago. This suggests that those prebiotic compounds could have originated in interstellar space, to be later on incorporated to small Solar-system bodies and planetesimals. The recent discovery of prebiotic molecules such as hydroxylamine and ethanolamine in the interstellar medium, strongly supports this hypothesis. However, some species such as sugars, key for the synthesis of ribonucleotides and for metabolic processes, remain to be discovered in space. The unmatched sensitivity of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) at centimeter wavelengths will be able to detect even more complex and heavier prebiotic molecules than existing instrumentation. In this contribution, we illustrate the potential of the SKA to detect simple sugars with three and four carbon atoms, using a moderate investment of observing time.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

CAB: Towards the RNA-world in the interstellar medium -- detection of urea, and search of 2-amino-oxazole and simple sugars

In the past decade, Astrochemistry has witnessed an impressive increase in the number of detections of complex organic molecules. Some of these species are of prebiotic interest such as glycolaldehyde, the simplest sugar, or amino acetonitrile, a possible precursor of glycine. Recently, we have reported the detection of two new nitrogen-bearing complex organics, glycolonitrile and Z-cyanomethanimine, known to be intermediate species in the formation process of ribonucleotides within theories of a primordial ribonucleic acid (RNA)-world for the origin of life. In this paper, we present deep and high-sensitivity observations toward two of the most chemically rich sources in the Galaxy: a Giant Molecular Cloud in the center of the Milky Way (G+0.693-0.027) and a proto-Sun (IRAS16293-2422 B). Our aim is to explore whether the key precursors considered to drive the primordial RNA-world chemistry, are also found in space. Our high-sensitivity observations reveal that urea is present in G+0.693-0.027 with an abundance of about 5x10-11. This is the first detection of this prebiotic species outside a star-forming region. Urea remains undetected toward the proto-Sun IRAS16293-2422 B (upper limit to its abundance of less than 2x10-11). Other precursors of the RNA-world chemical scheme such as glycolaldehyde or cyanamide are abundant in space, but key prebiotic species such as 2- amino-oxazole, glyceraldehyde or dihydroxyacetone are not detected in either source. Future more sensitive observations targeting the brightest transitions of these species will be needed to disentangle whether these large prebiotic organics are certainly present in space.

astro-ph.GA↗