Year-long stability of nucleic acid bases in concentrated sulfuric acid: implications for the persistence of organic chemistry in Venus’ clouds

Seager, Sara, Petkowski, Janusz J., Seager, Maxwell D., Grimes, John H., Zinsli, Zachary, Vollmer-Snarr, Heidi R., Abd El-Rahman, Mohamed K., Wishart, David S., Lee, Brian L., Gautam, Vasuk, Herrington, Lauren, Bains, William and Darrow, Charles 2024. Year-long stability of nucleic acid bases in concentrated sulfuric acid: implications for the persistence of organic chemistry in Venus’ clouds. Life 14 (5) , 538. 10.3390/life14050538

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Abstract

We show that the nucleic acid bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil, as well as 2,6-diaminopurine, and the “core” nucleic acid bases purine and pyrimidine, are stable for more than one year in concentrated sulfuric acid at room temperature and at acid concentrations relevant for Venus clouds (81% w/w to 98% w/w acid, the rest water). This work builds on our initial stability studies and is the first ever to test the reactivity and structural integrity of organic molecules subjected to extended incubation in concentrated sulfuric acid. The one-year-long stability of nucleic acid bases supports the notion that the Venus cloud environment—composed of concentrated sulfuric acid—may be able to support complex organic chemicals for extended periods of time.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	2075-1729
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 May 2024
Date of Acceptance:	20 April 2024
Last Modified:	08 May 2024 09:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/168760

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