The largest molecules in space

The bulk of complex molecules in the space between the stars is shown to be in the small frozen particles of interstellar dust. Each dust grain typically contains some 109 atoms of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen in an amorphous molecular mixture. As a result of chemical processing of the particles by ultraviolet photons over times spanning proportional108-109 years a substantial portion of each dust grain is converted into complex organic molecules whose maximum molecular weight is limited only by the size of the grain. Laboratory studies of evolution of analog grain materials shows that molecular weights of the order of 500 are readily created and that there is an excellent probability of much more complex molecules being produced. The organic dust component constitutes about one tenth of a percent of the total mass of the Milky Way and far outweighs any estimates of the total mass of all the planets. A planet like the earth is continually accreting matter from space and there was a high probability that in the first five hundred million years after its crust formed it passed through several dark clouds and accreted from a hundred million to ten thousand million tonnes of the organic material of the interstellar dust during each passage. It is suggested that this rain of material could have provided the molecular templates for the origin of life. (orig.)