Abstract Amino acids, the building blocks of life, have long been sought its origin in space (1). Glycine, the simplest amino acid, has been detected on asteroids and comets within the solar system (2, 3). Experimental evidence suggests that glycine could be synthesized in the interstellar medium (ISM) before the formation of stars and planets (4, 5). However, despite numerous efforts, all previous attempts to identify glycine in the ISM have been unsuccessful (6–11). Here we report the first conclusive detection of glycine (NH2CH2COOH) beyond the solar system, identified in the hot corino surrounding the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293–2422B. A total of 19 spectral lines of glycine and its three isomers have been identified. Moreover, physical and chemical models successfully predict the presence of glycine under hot corino conditions, while its absence is noted in a shock-affected molecular cloud. Together, these results provide strong evidence that amino acids form and exist within star-forming regions.
Quan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.