Abstract

This Letter emphasizes the interconnection between terrestrial and extraterrestrial petroleomics and highlights the potential for using advanced analytical techniques to explore fundamental questions about the origins of life and composition of cosmic materials. The terms “cosmochemical petroleomics”, “cosmochemical metallopetroleomics” (or, equivalently, “astrochemical petroleomics”, “astrochemical metallopetroleomics”), “meteoritic petroleomics”, “meteoritic metallopetroleomics”, “space petroleomics” and “space metalloproteomics” have been introduced. The tools and methods used in terrestrial petroleomics, such as ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry (including FT-ICR MS and Orbitrap), are equally applicable to astrochemical and cosmochemical studies. The aggregation of PAHs into larger structures (referred to as “islands” or “archipelagos”) may have played a vital role in the “PAH world” or “aromatic world” scenario at different stages of chemical evolution and can be compared to biomolecular/prebiological self-assembly processes. Asphaltenes are known to be frequently produced during various abiotic syntheses, including early versions of the Miller-Urey experiment and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and might have participate in the “messy chemistry” processes at the earliest stages of prebiological chemical evolution of organic matter.

Keywords:Asphaltenes; PAHs; FT-ICR MS; Orbitrap; Petroleomics; Cosmochemical petroleomics; Cosmochemical metallopetroleomics; Astrochemical petroleomics; Astrochemical metallopetroleomics; Meteoritic petroleomics; Meteoritic metallopetroleomics; Space petroleomics; Space metalloproteomics; Redox-petroleomics; Aromatic world; PAH world