Prebiotic Chemistry Insights for Dragonfly II: Thermodynamic Favorability of Nucleobases, Ribose, and Fatty Acids in Selk Crater on Titan

TL;DR

This study assesses the thermodynamic favorability of prebiotic molecules like nucleobases, ribose, and fatty acids in Titan's Selk crater environment, providing predictions for Dragonfly's in situ analysis.

Contribution

It offers the first thermodynamic analysis of prebiotic molecules in Selk crater, linking molecular accessibility to ammonia levels and informing Dragonfly's exploration strategies.

Findings

Ammonia acts as a chemical gatekeeper for molecular accessibility.

All investigated molecules become accessible at >=1% NH3.

Molecular patterns mirror those in meteorites and asteroid samples.

Abstract

Saturn's moon Titan is a prime destination for investigating prebiotic chemistry beyond Earth, particularly at impact crater sites where transient liquid water may have enabled aqueous reactions between organic molecules. Selk crater represents one such environment and is a primary target of NASA's Dragonfly mission. Here, we present a thermodynamic assessment of nucleobases, ribose, and fatty acids formed from simple atmospheric precursors (HCN and C2H2) within a Selk-sized aqueous melt pool across varying ammonia (NH3) abundances. We find that ammonia acts as a chemical gatekeeper for molecular accessibility. In NH3-free systems, accessibility is restricted to adenine and butanoic acid. Once >=1% NH3 is introduced, all investigated molecular classes become thermodynamically accessible. Distinct molecular classes have different NH3 sensitivities: nucleobases, ribose, and C2-C6 fatty acids yield peaks at 1% NH3, and C7-C12 fatty acids yield peaks at 2% NH3. The modeled preference for pyrimidines vs. purines and monotonic decline of fatty acid abundance with chain length qualitatively mirror patterns observed in carbonaceous meteorites and returned asteroid samples. We show how molecular distributions and cross-class correlations may provide indirect constraints on Selk's past aqueous environment, help constrain past ammonia availability, and distinguish abiotic production from potential anomalies. By coupling thermodynamic predictions with an assessment of Dragonfly's mass spectrometer (DraMS) capabilities, we posit concrete, testable predictions for evaluating Selk's prebiotic potential in situ.