Early-Earth small molecule reactions : an experimental survey of submarine alkaline hydrothermal vent chemistry

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dc.contributor.advisor Clyburne, Jason A. C. (Jason Alexander Cameron), 1968-
dc.creator Goulding, Liam Sean
dc.date.accessioned 2017-08-30T14:35:20Z
dc.date.available 2017-08-30T14:35:20Z
dc.date.issued 2017
dc.identifier.uri http://library2.smu.ca/handle/01/27063
dc.description 1 online resource (52 p.) : ill. (some col.)
dc.description Includes abstract.
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (p. 49- 52).
dc.description.abstract Alkaline hydrothermal vents provide a variety of chemical reagents and conditions that may provide insight as to how life emerged on Earth. This study examined small molecule chemistry under conditions found at these vents. Two major experiments were preformed using small molecules that are generated and available at hydrothermal vents. CO[subscript 2]-switchable ionic liquids were the medium for small molecule reactions to occur. Reactions between cyanamide (CH[subscript 2]N[subscript 2]) and glycolaldehyde (C[subscript 2]H[subscript 4]O[subscript 2]) produced 2-aminooxazole (C[subscript 3]H[subscript 4]N[subscript 2]O) were set up in water, but failed to produce a result in CO[subscript 2]-switchable ionic liquids. Exploration of the reaction of CS[subscript 2] with acetate (CH[subscript 3]COO[superscript -]) in acetonitrile with CO[subscript 2] passing over resulted in a product that could not be identified. Interestingly, CO[subscript 2] and CS[subscript 2] exchanged oxygen and sulfur in the presence of acetate. Thus, suggested that a metal catalyst is not necessary for CO[subscript 2]/CS[subscript 2] scrambling. Observations of this phenomenon demonstrated that CO[subscript 2] and CS[subscript 2] are more dynamic at low temperature and pressure conditions than previously thought. The Finding of this study show that there is still much to understand about small molecule under pre-biotic conditions. en_CA
dc.description.provenance Submitted by Greg Hilliard (greg.hilliard@smu.ca) on 2017-08-30T14:35:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Goulding_Liam_Honours_2017.pdf: 911029 bytes, checksum: b3221a9e910b4f85cb09839f4a10ea7e (MD5) en
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-30T14:35:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Goulding_Liam_Honours_2017.pdf: 911029 bytes, checksum: b3221a9e910b4f85cb09839f4a10ea7e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-01 en
dc.language.iso en en_CA
dc.publisher Halifax, N.S. : Saint Mary's University
dc.title Early-Earth small molecule reactions : an experimental survey of submarine alkaline hydrothermal vent chemistry en_CA
dc.type Text en_CA
thesis.degree.name Bachelor of Science (Honours Environmental Science)
thesis.degree.level Undergraduate
thesis.degree.discipline Environmental Science
thesis.degree.grantor Saint Mary's University (Halifax, N.S.)
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