Overview
- Researchers report that at Titan-like temperatures near 90 K (about −180 °C), polar hydrogen cyanide forms stable co-crystals with nonpolar methane or ethane, defying the usual like-dissolves-like rule.
- Laser spectroscopy at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory detected unexpected features in HCN–hydrocarbon mixtures that solid-state simulations from Chalmers reproduced, including matching spectral signatures.
- The work offers a plausible fate for abundant atmospheric HCN on Titan, suggesting it could be incorporated into surface deposits rather than accumulating as a separate layer.
- Because HCN is a precursor to amino acids and nucleobases, the finding reframes aspects of Titan surface chemistry relevant to prebiotic pathways without overturning fundamental chemistry.
- The study, published in PNAS by teams at Chalmers University of Technology, NASA JPL, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, outlines observables that future missions such as Dragonfly (target arrival ~2034) can test in situ.