Table S1.

Enantiomer ratios and abundances of sugar alcohols in carbonaceous meteorites

Number of carbons/compound	% EE*	Meteorite†	Abundance,‡ pmol/g	Biological occurrence§
2C alcohol
Ethylene glycol	—	M39	320 × 103	Rare
3C alcohol
Glycerol	—	All	160 × 103 (M39)	Common
4C alcohol
Erythritol	—	G, M39, LAP	26 (G), 14 (ALH)	Common
d-threitol	0	G, M53, M57, LAP	32 (G), 14 (ALH)	Common (21, 22)
l-threitol	0	G, M53, M57, LAP	32 (G), 14 (ALH)	Rare (22)
HMGly	—	G, M53, M57, LAP	14 (G), 31 (ALH)	Rare
5C alcohol
Ribitol	—	G	tr	Common
d-arabinitol	0	G	tr	Common (55)
l-arabinitol	0	G	tr	Rare (55)
Xylitol	—-	G	tr	Common

ALH, ALH 85013; G, GRA 95229; LAP, LAP 02333; M39, Murchison 39; M52, Murchison 52, etc.

^*Dashes indicate a nonchiral compound; “0” for threitol does not exclude possible small l EE in Murchison. Erythritol possesses a plane of symmetry and therefore does not exhibit enantiomerism.

^†Glycerol was observed in all meteorites. Ethylene glycol is likely to be present in multiple meteorites but was not specifically searched for in all cases.

^‡Ethylene glycol and glycerol abundances from Murchison in previous work (8); tr Indicates trace amounts but positive identifications.

^§Although found in nature, d-threitol is less common than erythritol.