Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7613, USA.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2010 Jul 13;368(1922):3137-44. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2010.0016.
Recently, carotenoids have received much attention as target compounds for astrobiological prospecting principally because they are a group of molecules that display unique diagnostic Raman spectra that can be assigned to organic material of unequivocal biological origin. However, no work has been performed on assessing the potential of Raman spectroscopic detection of carotenoids from fossilized microbes. Here, we report the first Raman spectra acquired from 'perhydro' derivatives of beta-carotene and lycopene formed by hydrogenation of the polyene chain during diagenesis, resulting in much less specific fossil hydrocarbons such as beta-carotane and lycopane, respectively. We propose here that diagenetically altered carotenoids formed by hydrogenation reactions during the fossilization processes also provide unique diagnostic spectra that can be interpreted as a biological signature.
最近，类胡萝卜素作为天体生物学勘探的目标化合物受到了广泛关注，主要是因为它们是一组显示独特诊断拉曼光谱的分子，可以被分配到具有明确生物起源的有机物质。然而，尚未有研究评估从化石微生物中拉曼光谱检测类胡萝卜素的潜力。在这里，我们报告了首次从β-胡萝卜素和番茄红素的“过氢”衍生物中获得的拉曼光谱，这些衍生物是由多烯链在成岩作用过程中的加氢反应形成的，分别产生了不太特异的化石烃，如β-胡萝卜烷和番茄红素。在这里，我们提出，在化石形成过程中加氢反应形成的成岩作用改变的类胡萝卜素也提供了独特的诊断光谱，可以被解释为生物特征。
