- New DIFT Colloquium “Towards prebiotic chemistry in the interstellar medium” by Izaskun Jiménez-Serra
On Thursday, October 8, the Institute for Theoretical Physics (IFT) and the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) held a new edition of the DIFT Colloquium, which took place in the CFTMAT Auditorium from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. The lecture, titled “Towards prebiotic chemistry in the interstellar medium”, was delivered by Izaskun Jiméne-Serra, from the Astrobiology Center in Madrid.
In the past decade, Astrochemistry has witnessed an impressive increase in the number of detections of new molecular species in space. The majority of these detections are related to complex organic molecules (or COMs), defined as carbon-based compounds with more than five atoms in their molecular structure. Interestingly, some of these complex organics are of prebiotic interest and, hence, they are believed to be involved in the first biochemical processes that led to life. Recently, we have obtained ultra-sensitive, broadband spectral surveys toward the G+0.693 molecular cloud, located in the Galactic Center and known to be one of the richest chemical repositories of the Milky Way. Our spectral surveys, carried out with the Yebes 40m and IRAM 30m telescopes, have allowed us to detect nearly 30 new molecular species, which include precursors of ribonucleotides, nucleobases, amino acids, sugars, proto-proteins and proto-lipids, as proposed in theories of the origin of life. In this talk, I will present all these findings and analyze how chemical complexity builds up in the interstellar medium, not only in the extreme environment of the Galactic Center, but also during the initial conditions of Solar-system formation.
📌 This lecture is part of the DIFT Colloquia 2026, organized by the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT UAM-CSIC). Held in Madrid on October 8, 2026.