A new study is helping astrobiologists understand whether or not the decomposition of oxalic acid could act as a source of C-O-H in petrologic experiments. The team studied how oxalic acid decomposes in oxidizing, reducing and unbuffered solutions at temperatures up to 800 °C.

The study could provide insight into how compounds and chemical elements are altered and made available for life on terrestrial planets.

The paper, “In-situ characterization of oxalic acid breakdown at elevated P and T: Implications for organic C-O-H fluid sources in petrologic experiments,” was published in the journal American Mineralogist.

This work was funded by the Astrobiology Science & Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) element of the Astrobiology Program and NASA’s Cosmochemistry program. Additional support came from the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Energy (DOE).