Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38782930›Full record

ArticleNature communications2024

Abiotic formation of alkylsulfonic acids in interstellar analog ices and implications for their detection on Ryugu.

Mason McAnally, Jana Bocková, Ashanie Herath, Andrew M Turner, Cornelia Meinert, Ralf I Kaiser

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Interstellar Ice Chemistry Yields Elusive Sulfinothioic Acid (HS(O)SH).Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Effects of hydrogen-bonded biological molecules on photochemical properties of tryptophan enantiomers probed by temperature-dependent ultraviolet photodissociation spectroscopy in the gas phase.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Mason McAnally *Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-7799-9914
Jana Bocková *Université Côte d'Azur, Institut de Chimie de Nice, UMR 7272 CNRS, Nice, France.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3807-2491
Ashanie HerathDepartment of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0005-0757-7288
Andrew M TurnerDepartment of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Cornelia MeinertUniversité Côte d'Azur, Institut de Chimie de Nice, UMR 7272 CNRS, Nice, France. Cornelia.MEINERT@univ-cotedazur.fr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7256-2112
Ralf I KaiserDepartment of Chemistry, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA. ralfk@hawaii.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7233-7206

Funding

EC | EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020 | H2020 Priority Excellent Science | H2020 European Research Council (H2020 Excellent Science - European Research Council) 804144
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

For the last century, the source of sulfur in Earth's very first organisms has remained a fundamental, unsolved enigma. While sulfates and their organic derivatives with sulfur in the S(+VI) oxidation state represent core nutrients in contemporary biochemistry, the limited bioavailability of sulfates during Earth's early Archean period proposed that more soluble S(+IV) compounds served as the initial source of sulfur for the first terrestrial microorganisms. Here, we reveal via laboratory simulation experiments that the three simplest alkylsulfonic acids-water soluble organic S(+IV) compounds-can be efficiently produced in interstellar, sulfur-doped ices through interaction with galactic cosmic rays. This discovery opens a previously elusive path into the synthesis of vital astrobiological significance and untangles fundamental mechanisms of a facile preparation of sulfur-containing, biorelevant organics in extraterrestrial ices; these molecules can be eventually incorporated into comets and asteroids before their delivery and detection on Earth such as in the Murchison, Tagish Lake, and Allende meteorites along with the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu.

Identifiers

PMID38782930
PMCPMC11526038

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.