Abstract
In the beginning of 20th century, the general idea about SPACE was completely opposite to what we are thinking of now-a-days. Now, space is neither considered as an utterly empty vacuum nor is also absolutely devoid of any matter. The complete swing to this current prospective came with the spectroscopic discoveries of small molecules in the outer space or in general in the interstellar mediums (ISM) of the space. As the counting of discovered molecules/fragments in the ISM still continuous, till-date the database is enriched with almost more than 200 different chemical species. At present, astronomical research society, no more consider space a void, rather researchers view it as an ASTROCHEMICAL FACTORY with diverse chemical and physical environments. Though the existences of interesting chemistry in the interstellar space are now verified, the primary question related to “HOW WERE THESE SPECIES FORMED?”, remains still not completely solved. Though the drastic conditions existing in the space often do not seems to be conducive in nature to make space as a breeding ground for these chemicals, still the space and more specifically, the interstellar and circumstellar mediums are full of interesting chemistries. Moreover in the list of molecules/elements reported to be observed in the interstellar space, all the elements essential for life are reported to be as most abundant. In the voyage for to find a compelling and most acceptable theory to explain the origins-oflife on earth, many competing theories/hypotheses, as well as many unsolved mysteries related to the abiogenesis “ORIGINS-OF-LIFE” can be found in the literature. Still, origins-of-life stands as a bigger and most fundamental question among the scientific communities. In this regard the first abiogenesis experiment was carried out by Stanley Miller under supervision of Nobel Laureate Harold Urey. A landmark experiment in the history of origin-of-life problem, showed that simple organic molecules, which are building blocks of life can be formed from a set of completely simple inorganic molecules. In the subsequent years, this experiment inspired many researchers working this field. Though tremendous progresses can be found in this area, still the questions related to origin of life remain as the foremost in the list of unsolved mysteries. In the Miller experiment, formaldehyde is believed to be the primary chemical entity, whereas in the recent time the focus is found to be shifted to formamide. It is currently believed that formamide is the primary prebiotic precursor, not the formaldehyde. Current thesis is focused on this important prebiotic precursor, “FORMAMIDE (H2NCHO)”.
Ph.D. (Chemistry)