Search for nucleic acid bases in carbonaceous chondrites from Antarctica

Abstract

Four CM2 chondrites from Antarctica were analyzed for nucleic acid bases. The Yamato-74662 and Yamato-791198 chondrites gave positive evidence for the presence of guanine, tentative evidence for xanthine, and possibly hypoxanthine. Their individual abundances were in the range of 420 to 30 ng/g in the two chondrites, while no pyrimidines were found. No purines and pyrimidines were found in the Yamato-793321 and Belgica-7904 chondrites.