Chemical Structure and Optical Properties of Titan's Tholins and HCN Polymer. Implications for the Analysis of Cassini-Huygens Observations and Refractory Organics in Cometary Grains

Eric Quirico (1) , Jean-Michel Bernard (1) , Gilles Montagnac (2) , Jean-Noel Rouzaud (3) , Cyril Szopa (4) , Guy Cernogora (4) , Bruno Reynard (2) , P. Mc Millan (5) , N. Fray (1) , Bernard Schmitt (1) , Patrice Coll (6) , François Raulin (6)

1 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie de Grenoble
2 LST - Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre
3 LGENS - Laboratoire de géologie de l'ENS
4 SA - Service d'aéronomie
5 Department of Chemistry [UCL, London]
6 LISA (UMR_7583) - Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques

Tholins and HCN polymers were studied by UV Raman spectroscopy and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy. Both have very close chemical structure. HCN polymer could be easily identified in cometary grains by UV Raman spectroscopy.

Domains: Astrophysics [astro-ph]

Eric Quirico, Jean-Michel Bernard, Gilles Montagnac, Jean-Noel Rouzaud, Cyril Szopa, et al.. Chemical Structure and Optical Properties of Titan's Tholins and HCN Polymer. Implications for the Analysis of Cassini-Huygens Observations and Refractory Organics in Cometary Grains. 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 2006, Houston, United States. pp. 2. ⟨insu-00357152⟩