Catalytica and Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo sign commercialization agreement for catalytic combustion technology
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1995
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 161 KB
- Volume
- 126
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0926-860X
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✦ Synopsis
N12
firmed; previously, the locations had been considered to be caused by previous volcanic activity. The best known example is Meteor Crater, just outside Flagstaff in Arizona, which is 600 feet deep and 4500 feet wide. It is an awesome site and I had the good fortune to visit the crater with my family after the San Diego ACS meeting in March 1994. Hence, it seems fair to conclude that molecules of biological interest oculd not be transported to Earth via a large comet or meteor. However, another type of meteorite known as carbonacous chondrites also fall to Earth and these are known to contain organic molecules [5,6]. In 1969 such a chondrite fell in Murchison, Australia and was analysed within days. Six amino acids were identified that are common constituents of proteins and an aditional eight amino acids werefound that do not occur in natural proteins [7]. Careful analysis showed that they were present as racemates and similar results have been found for other meteorites. It is, of course, unknown whether these molecules had always existed as racemates or whether the process of entry in to the Earth's atmosphere caused racemisation. However, based on this evidence, it appears unlikely that chiral organic molecules arrive on Earth from deep space or that these provided the basis for the origin of life. It is therefore necessary to consider viable mechanisms that could form a single enantiomer on Earth wihin the framework of the available raw materials. The answer to this question is not only relevant to answering the big question of the origin of life, but may help us to understand how we can design enantioselective catalysts. (To be continued).