Scientific Correspondence
Nature 394, 236 (16 July 1998) | doi:10.1038/28306
Alanine enantiomers in the Murchison meteorite
S. Pizzarello1 & J. R. Cronin1
Engel and Macko
1 have reported that alanine indigenous to the Murchison meteorite has an l-enantiomer excess of about 33%. Furthermore, they reported very similar 
15nitrogen values for l-alanine and d-alanine; these values are quite high in comparison with those of terrestrial amino acids. On this basis, they argued that contamination of the meteorite by terrestrial l-alanine can be ruled out because, if it contributed to the l-enantiomer excess, the lower 15N content of terrestrial l-alanine would significantly lower the 15N value that they observed for l-alanine.
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA
