TMA

Is there anybody out there? Ultrafast Rydberg–valence interactions in the photodissociation of trimethylamine

• Derri J. Hughes, Andrew W. Prentice, Lauren Bertram, Richard T. Chapman, Luca Craciunescu, Daniel A. Horke, Peter Krüger, Michael A. Parkes, Henry J. Thompson, Emma Springate, James O. F. Thompson, Yu Zhang, Adam Kirrander, Martin J. Paterson, and Russell S. Minns
• Publication

Trimethylamine (TMA) is a tertiary aliphatic amine that stands as a potential marker for life beyond Earth due to only being naturally produced via biotic means. However, its propensity to undergo photodissociation in the gas phase when excited by a deep ultraviolet photon means that its amine daughter product could serve as an additional biomarker and confirmational spectral signature of TMA in exoplanetary atmospheres…