azotosome
English edit
Etymology edit
From azote (“nitrogen”) + -o- + -some (“body”), from French azote (“nitrogen”) and Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma, “body”), a "nitrogen body", formed by analogy with liposome.
Noun edit
azotosome (plural azotosomes)
- (chemistry) A theoretical nitrogen-based counterpart to liposome structures composed of acrylonitrile self-assembled membrane in a liquid methane bath
- 2015 February 27, James Stevenson, Jonathan Lunine, Paulette Clancy, “Membrane alternatives in worlds without oxygen: Creation of an azotosome”, in Science Advances[1]:
- This procedure is necessary because of the azotosomes’ high barriers to decomposition.
- 2015 July 17, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Alexander Schulze-Makuch, Joop M. Houtkooper, “The Physical, Chemical and Physiological Limits of Life”, in Life[2], volume 5, number 3, pages 1472–86:
- Furthermore, Stevenson et al. [51] recently suggested membranes composed of small organic nitrogen compounds, azotosomes that would be capable of forming and functioning in liquid methane at cryogenic temperatures.
- 2017 July 28, Mareen Y. Palmer, “ALMA detection and astrobiological potential of vinyl cyanide on Titan”, in Science Advances[3], volume 3, number 7:
- Confirmation of the presence of vinyl cyanide on Titan is especially interesting with respect to the possibility of cell membrane–like azotosomes.