Optical and chemical properties of tholins

For over three decades tholins have been synthesized from mixtures of the cosmically abundant gases CH₄, C₂H₆, NH₃, H₂O, HCHO, N₂, and H₂, previously in the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University and in recent years at NASA Ames Research Center. The tholin synthesized by UV light or spark discharge on sequential and non-sequential pyrolysis GC-MS revealed hundreds of compounds, and on hydrolysis produced a large number of amino acids including racemic protein amino acids. Optical constants have been measured of many of the tholins, tholins produced from a condensed mixture of water and ethane at 77 K, poly HCN, and Titan tholin produced on electrical discharge through a mixture of 90% N₂ and 10% CH₄. Its optical constants were measured from soft x-rays to microwave for the first time.