APEX this week: Organics produced by CI chondrite parent body aqueous alteration: an analogue study
This week we are delighted to welcome a talk by Sidonie Coker, a PhD researcher at Imperial College London and CPS alumna.
APEX this week: Organics produced by CI chondrite parent body aqueous alteration: an analogue study
14 Nov 2025, 13:00 – 14:00
Our Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration (APEX) seminar series continues this Friday 14th November at 13:00 GMT, featuring the following talk:
- Sidonie Coker (Imperial) - Organics produced by CI chondrite parent body aqueous alteration: an analogue study
An abstract for Sidonie’s talk can be found below.
Please note the day and location for APEX this term: Fridays at lunchtime, 1-2 pm GMT, in Birkbeck room MAL 612, 6th floor of the Birkbeck main Malet Street building, and online (unless specified ‘online only’ below).
A hybrid (in-person and online) format will continue this term but, of course, we warmly encourage in-person attendance to support our visiting speakers.
Details of the forthcoming APEX programme can be found at the link below. The latest information will be advertised in advance of each meeting. If you are not on our regular mailing lists and are interested in attending these seminars, please contact joanna.fabbri AT ucl.ac.uk.
Abstract
Organic compounds found in the CI chondrites (such as amino acids) are thought to be generated via aqueous alteration in asteroidal parent bodies. Lab analogues facilitate investigation of the processes behind their formation, but no experiments specific to carbonaceous chondrite subgroups, like the CI chondrites, have yet been developed. In addition, the potential interactions of saponite and carbonate in this context and any effects on organic abundance and diversity are poorly defined. Therefore, my Master’s thesis focused on these minerals’ influence on organic-forming reaction networks in CI chondrite parent bodies via studying analogue samples resulting from heating of carbonate, saponite and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT). Ammonium formate appears to have some association with carbonate in these samples, highlighting the possibility of organometallic complexing by Ca2+. Strecker synthesis and the formose reaction likely occurred throughout the samples, but any trends are complicated by the uncertainty of reaction ‘signatures.’ Contamination may have also occurred, as indicated by D/L ratios of certain amino acids.
Links
APEX Seminars
The Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration (APEX) seminar series takes place this term on Friday lunchtimes, from 1-2pm, in Birkbeck room MAL 612, on the 6th floor of the Birkbeck main Malet Street building, and online. As in previous years, we will operate a hybrid (online and in-person) model for both speakers and attendees. Details of the forthcoming APEX programme can be found via the link below.
Further information
Ticketing
Open
Cost
Free
Open to
Invitation Only
Availability
Yes
Other events in this series
APEX is back! Organic–mineral associations in Jezero crater
We are delighted to welcome back our APEX seminar series with a talk from Dr Keyron Hickman-Lewis, Lecturer in Planetary Exploration at Birkbeck, University of London.
APEX this week: It Came From Deep Space! What we've learned about 3I/ATLAS in the first 100 days
For this week's APEX seminar, we are delighted to welcome a talk from Dr Mark Norris, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Computing, University of Lancashire.
APEX this week: Hydrocarbon Hazes on Temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b
We look forward to the next talk in our APEX seminar series from Ruohan Liu, a PhD researcher studying exoplanets in the Astrophysics Group at UCL's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
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