Unravelling the prebiotic origins of the simplest α-ketoacids in cometary ices: a computational investigation

We have employed the ab initio nanoreactor (AINR) and DFT calculations to explore how the soft impact of comets entering early earth's dense atmosphere could induce chemical reactions in trapped interstellar ice components, leading to the origin of glyoxylic and pyruvic acids the simplest alpha-ketoacids essential for prebiotic metabolic cycles. Extra-terrestrial origins of the simplest alpha-ketoacids, central to many prebiotic metabolic cycles, have been revealed by simulating the soft impact-induced compression of cometary ices.