SYNTHESIS OF BIOLOGICAL COMPOUNDS IN QUASI-INTERSTELLAR CONDITIONS

Bombardment of a carbon target in high vacuum with two molecular beams (high energy H-2/N-2, 15:85, obtained by charge exchange, and thermal O-2) gives ions which are then dissociated in a collision cell. Mass analysis of the dissociation fragments leads to the identification of organic compounds, some of which are normal constituents of living org anisms. The results have been confirmed by D and by C-13 labelling to avoid any accidental contamination and confirm structural determinatio ns. (C) Academie des sciences/Elsevier, Paris.