Heterocyclic Compounds indigenous to the Murchison Meteorite

Abstract

THE origin of purines and pyrimidines is of prime importance in chemical evolution. Several pathways have been proposed for their laboratory synthesis in simulated primitive Earth conditions¹. There is only one report, however, on their possible occurrence in carbonaceous chondrites, which are presumed to be representative of primordial cosmic material². We thus undertook a search for heterocyclic compounds using a sample of the Murchison meteorite, a type II carbonaceous chondrite. We found 4-hydroxypyrimidine and two of its methyl substituted isomers. We did not find any purines or triazines.