The Molecule with a Propensity for Explosion: The Supremely Alcoholic Substance with Potential for Initiation of Life in the Universe
It all begins in a cryogenic chamber at -268°C, with water and carbon dioxide trapped in eternal cold. Under the bombardment of radiation similar to cosmic rays, something improbable occurs, but which could have been the origin of life itself.
The emergence of an improbable “super alcohol”
The “super alcohol” is not just any alcohol. It is the only one that binds four groups of oxygen and hydrogen to the same carbon atom, a chemical rarity that had been only a theory for over a century. Its instability made it unattainable: the slightest change in its environment would cause it to decompose.
But an international team decided to recreate the most hostile conditions of space. By bombarding them with simulated cosmic radiation and detecting traces of this “super alcohol” in a gaseous state using ultraviolet light, they not only confirmed its existence, but also established it as a new protagonist in the chemical history of the universe.
A potential “prebiotic bomb”
Metanetetrol is considered a “prebiotic bomb”: a condensed core of carbon and oxygen that, when energized, releases water, hydrogen peroxide, and other essential compounds for life.
It is analogous to an acorn that cannot grow on its own, but under the right conditions, it can initiate an entire ecosystem. If metanetetrol naturally forms in the dust clouds where stars and planets are born, it could suggest that the chemistry for life is occurring long before a world even comes into existence.
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