Tremendous progress has been made in our understanding of interstellar materials and astrochemistry over the past thirty years. This leap forward is largely due to breakthroughs in infrared and radio astronomy, laboratory simulations of different astronomical environments, and theoretical astrophysics. Thirty years ago the composition of interstellar dust was largely guessed at, cosmic ices mainly ignored, and the notion of large molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) dismissed. Today this is all different. Both the ice and refractory phases of interstellar dust are reasonably well characterized, astrochemical models now incorporate processes in the gas as well as in the bulk and on the surface of this dust, and PAHs are generally thought to be abundant and widespread throughout the universe.
Starting with IR astrospectroscopy, this talk will summarize our knowledge of the icy component of interstellar dust in dense molecular clouds, the birthplace of stars and planetary systems. The second part will concentrate on the chemistry that takes place in these interstellar ices leading up to the formation of both simple and complex prebiotic molecules. Delivery of these species to the primordial Earth via meteorites and cometary dust may have played a role in the origin of life.
