The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $11,000 - Tuesday the 19th of July 2016
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES MAY HAVE PLAYED AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN DELIVERING ORGANIC COMPOUNDS, SUCH AS NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES AND AMINO ACIDS, THAT MAY HAVE FACILITATED THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH (AND POSSIBLY ELSEWHERE). THE FORMATION MECHANISM OF NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES AND NON-ALPHA AMINO ACIDS IN CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES REMAINS AN OPEN QUESTION. OUR PRELIMINARY RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE INDIGENOUS NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES WE HAVE MEASURED IN CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES MAY BE THE PRODUCTS OF AQUEOUS HYDROGEN CYANIDE (HCN) CHEMISTRY. IN A SEPARATE STUDY, WE HAVE FOUND THAT INCLUDING FORMALDEHYDE (HCHO) IN LABORATORY HCN REACTIONS INFLUENCES THE TYPES AND QUANTITIES OF NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES AND AMINO ACIDS PRODUCED, SUGGESTING THAT THE DISTRIBUTION OF THESE ORGANICS MAY BE DICTATED BY THE INITIAL RATIOS OF THESE SIMPLE REACTANTS. WE PROPOSE TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE THE ROLE THAT HCN AND HCHO MAY HAVE PLAYED IN THE FORMATION OF NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES AND AMINO ACIDS IN CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES. WE WILL PERFORM A SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF LABORATORY-PRODUCED ANALOGS PREPARED FROM HCN AND HCHO UNDER DIFFERENT REACTION CONDITIONS AND COMPARE THESE RESULTS WITH OUR ANALYSES OF CM2 CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES, WHICH APPEAR TO CONTAIN THE MOST ABUNDANT AND DIVERSE INVENTORIES OF NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES. WE WILL USE STATE-OF-THE-ART ULTRAPERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY COUPLED TO HIGH RESOLUTION ORBITRAP MASS SPECTROMETRY AND LEVERAGE PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED METHODS PROVEN TO BE SUCCESSFUL FOR THE ANALYSIS OF HIGHLY COMPLEX ORGANIC MIXTURES. OUR THREE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ARE (1) TO UNDERSTAND THE CHEMISTRY OF METEORITE PARENT BODIES BY COMPARING THE DISTRIBUTION OF NITROGEN-CONTAINING COMPOUNDS MEASURED IN LABORATORY ANALOGS TO THOSE FOUND IN CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES, (2) TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF LABORATORY ANALOGS PREPARED FROM HCN AND HCHO TO IDENTIFY NEW ORGANIC SEARCH TARGETS IN CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES, AND (3) TO ESTABISH IF CM2 CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES ARE PARTICULARLY RICH IN NITROGEN HETEROCYCLES COMPARED TO OTHER METEORITE GROUPS. ANSWERING THESE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING THE FORMATION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN METEORITE PARENT BODIES, WHICH IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO A KEY GOAL OF THE COSMOCHEMISTRY PROGRAM TO UNDERSTAND THE GEOCHEMISTRY OF SMALL BODIES.

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