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Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface

[Image: see text] Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has a plethora of organic compounds in the atmosphere and on the surface that interact with each other. Cryominerals such as co-crystals may influence the geologic processes and chemical composition of Titan’s surface, which in turn informs our underst...

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Autores principales: Czaplinski, Ellen C., Vu, Tuan H., Cable, Morgan L., Choukroun, Mathieu, Malaska, Michael J., Hodyss, Robert
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2023
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10026175/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36960425
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00377
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author Czaplinski, Ellen C.
Vu, Tuan H.
Cable, Morgan L.
Choukroun, Mathieu
Malaska, Michael J.
Hodyss, Robert
author_facet Czaplinski, Ellen C.
Vu, Tuan H.
Cable, Morgan L.
Choukroun, Mathieu
Malaska, Michael J.
Hodyss, Robert
author_sort Czaplinski, Ellen C.
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has a plethora of organic compounds in the atmosphere and on the surface that interact with each other. Cryominerals such as co-crystals may influence the geologic processes and chemical composition of Titan’s surface, which in turn informs our understanding of how Titan may have evolved, how the surface is continuing to change, and the extent of Titan’s habitability. Previous works have shown that a pyridine:acetylene (1:1) co-crystal forms under specific temperatures and experimental conditions; however, this has not yet been demonstrated under Titan-relevant conditions. Our work here demonstrates that the pyridine:acetylene co-crystal is stable from 90 K, Titan’s average surface temperature, up to 180 K under an atmosphere of N(2). In particular, the co-crystal forms via liquid–solid interactions within minutes upon mixing of the constituents at 150 K, as evidenced by distinct, new Raman bands and band shifts. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate moderate anisotropic thermal expansion (about 0.5–1.1%) along the three principal axes between 90–150 K. Additionally, the co-crystal is detectable after being exposed to liquid ethane, implying stability in a residual ethane “wetting” scenario on Titan. These results suggest that the pyridine:acetylene co-crystal could form in specific geologic contexts on Titan that allow for warm environments in which liquid pyridine could persist, and as such, this cryomineral may preserve the evidence of impact, cryovolcanism, or subsurface transport in surface materials.
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spelling pubmed-100261752023-03-21 Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface Czaplinski, Ellen C. Vu, Tuan H. Cable, Morgan L. Choukroun, Mathieu Malaska, Michael J. Hodyss, Robert ACS Earth Space Chem [Image: see text] Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has a plethora of organic compounds in the atmosphere and on the surface that interact with each other. Cryominerals such as co-crystals may influence the geologic processes and chemical composition of Titan’s surface, which in turn informs our understanding of how Titan may have evolved, how the surface is continuing to change, and the extent of Titan’s habitability. Previous works have shown that a pyridine:acetylene (1:1) co-crystal forms under specific temperatures and experimental conditions; however, this has not yet been demonstrated under Titan-relevant conditions. Our work here demonstrates that the pyridine:acetylene co-crystal is stable from 90 K, Titan’s average surface temperature, up to 180 K under an atmosphere of N(2). In particular, the co-crystal forms via liquid–solid interactions within minutes upon mixing of the constituents at 150 K, as evidenced by distinct, new Raman bands and band shifts. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate moderate anisotropic thermal expansion (about 0.5–1.1%) along the three principal axes between 90–150 K. Additionally, the co-crystal is detectable after being exposed to liquid ethane, implying stability in a residual ethane “wetting” scenario on Titan. These results suggest that the pyridine:acetylene co-crystal could form in specific geologic contexts on Titan that allow for warm environments in which liquid pyridine could persist, and as such, this cryomineral may preserve the evidence of impact, cryovolcanism, or subsurface transport in surface materials. American Chemical Society 2023-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC10026175/ /pubmed/36960425 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00377 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Czaplinski, Ellen C.
Vu, Tuan H.
Cable, Morgan L.
Choukroun, Mathieu
Malaska, Michael J.
Hodyss, Robert
Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
title Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
title_full Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
title_fullStr Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
title_full_unstemmed Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
title_short Experimental Characterization of the Pyridine:Acetylene Co-crystal and Implications for Titan’s Surface
title_sort experimental characterization of the pyridine:acetylene co-crystal and implications for titan’s surface
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10026175/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36960425
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00377
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