After four weeks, up to 19 of the examined amino acids either remained unreactive or just experienced side chain changes.
For a long time, scientists have doubted Venus’ habitability, focusing instead on the cloud layers at 48–60 km altitude where temperatures are similar to Earth rather than the planet’s hot 700K surface. It was widely believed that any potential for life on Venus would be thwarted by the sulfuric acid in its clouds.
But a ground-breaking study looked at 20 biogenic amino acids in the temperature and sulfuric acid concentration range of Venus’ cloud.
Remarkably, after four weeks, 19 of the examined amino acids either remained unreactive or merely experienced side chain changes. The key finding is that, even in concentrated sulfuric acid, the backbone of an amino acid is unaltered, which broadens the range of possible compounds that could be biologically significant.
The results represent a turning point, and this new research demands the creation of a new field in organic chemistry and astrobiology.
“Life needs some sort of liquid medium to function, but does it always have to be water?” questioned MIT research affiliate Janusz Pętkowski.
A unique collection of “Venues” research papers in Astrobiology highlighted the study, which highlighted the stability of amino acids in concentrated sulfuric acid. Amino acids are fundamental protein building blocks and are necessary for life as we know it.
In their paper “Stability of 20 Biogenic Amino Acids in Concentrated Sulfuric Acid: Implications for the Habitability of Venus’ Clouds,” Pętkowski et al. claim that their findings expand the pool of molecules that are biologically significant in a biochemistry that uses a concentrated sulfuric acid solvent.
Pętkowski emphasizes how crucial it is to comprehend fundamental chemistry in order to consider potential substitute solvents. In order to determine if complex organic chemistry may occur in such potentially useful alternative solvents for life and whether it would be stable and soluble, it is crucial to comprehend the fundamental chemistry that takes place in them. Although water predominates on Earth, other liquid solvents are also found across our solar system, the source reportedly informed Space.com.