Prof. Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, Director of the independent research unit Analytical Biogeochemistry at Helmholtz Munich and head of the Foodomics Platform at the Technical University of Munich, will give a seminar at MIO, on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 10:00 am in the Egée Room of the OCEANOMED building, on the following topic : Life in a nutshell : characterizing biotic and abiotic drivers in the chemistry of natural organic matter.
Abstract
Understanding complex organic materials on a molecular level in Bio- and/or Geosystems is a huge challenge in modern sciences and implies constant development and adaptation of modern ultrahigh-resolving analytical technology. We aim to present concepts for the chemical diversity of chemical mixtures such as natural organic matter resulting from / subjected to biotic and abiotic processes:
Life and Living systems (Biomes) from ubiquitous microbiomes through higher organisms to entire ecosystems. Chemical complexity (metabolome) is ruled by the genomes.
After-life involving generally globally transformed organic matter generating new complex materials not found in any database on short term or geological time scales to geopolymers in diagenetic processes
Pre-Life complex chemistry involves prebiotic chemistry following the only rules of abiotic chemical reactions. These complex chemistry is also found in meteoritic samples and from asteroid return samples (HAYABUSA2, OSIRIS ReX ). From this highest diverse and complex materials emerged molecules crucial for the early steps of life.
References
- Ph. Schmitt-Kopplin, D. Hemmler, F. Moritz, R. D. Gougeon, M. Lucio, M. Meringer, C. Müller, M. Harir, N. Hertkorn, Systems Chemical Analytics : Introduction to the challenges of chemical complexity analysis, Faraday discussions, 2019, DOI : 10.1039/c9fd00078j.
- Naraoka H, et al. Soluble organic molecules in samples of the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu. Science. 2023, 379(6634):eabn9033.
- Schmitt-Kopplin, Ph. et al. 2024 Soluble organic matter Molecular atlas of Ryugu reveals cold hydrothermalism on C-type asteroid parent body, Nature Communication 14(1) DOI10.1038/s41467-023-42075-y
- Diederich Ph, T. Geisberger, Y. Yan, C. Seitz, A. Ruf, C. Huber, N Hertkorn, Ph Schmitt-Kopplin Formation, stabilisation et devenir de l’acétaldéhyde et des aldéhydes supérieurs dans un système prébiotique évoluant de manière autonome et émergeant de l’acétylène Communications Chemistry, 2023, 6(1) 3