The Formation of Nucleobases from the Ultraviolet Photoirradiation of Purine in Simple Astrophysical Ice Analogues.

Nucleobases are the informational subunits of RNA and DNA and are essential to all known forms of life. The nucleobases can be divided into two groups of molecules: the pyrimidine-based compounds that include uracil, cytosine, and thymine, and the purine-based compounds that include adenine and guanine. Previous work in our laboratory has demonstrated that uracil, cytosine, thymine, and other nonbiological, less common nucleobases can form abiotically from the UV photoirradiation of pyrimidine in simple astrophysical ice analogues containing combinations of H