PHOSPHORUS PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN LIVING SYSTEMS WHERE IT IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF REPLICATION METABOLISM AND CELLULAR STRUCTURE. THE COSMIC HISTORY OF THIS ELEMENT HOWEVER IS FAR FROM TRANSPARENT. PHOSPHORUS IS THOUGHT TO ORIGINATE IN MASSIVE STARS ENTERING THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN THE GAS PHASE OR AS MINERAL GRAINS THROUGH STELLAR WINDS AND SUPERNOVAE. THE ELEMENT FORMS INTERSTELLAR MOLECULES SUCH AS PO AND PN AS TRACED BY RADIO ASTRONOMY AND IS ALSO INCORPORATED INTO METEORITES IN MINERAL FORM AND AS PHOSPHONIC ACIDS. A PLAUSIBLE SOURCE OF BIOGENIC PHOSPHORUS MAY BE EXOGENOUS DELIVERY FROM SUCH BODIES. ESTABLISHING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE INTERSTELLAR AND SOLAR SYSTEM CARRIERS OF THIS ELEMENT IS THEREFORE CRITICAL TO UNDERSTANDING LIFE S ORIGINS. WE PROPOSE TO EXPAND OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF PHOSPHORUS BY EXAMINING NEW INTERSTELLAR AND SOLAR SYSTEM CARRIERS IN BOTH THE GAS-PHASE AND SOLID-STATE FORMS AND INTEGRATING THESE NEW DATA WITH PREVIOUS STUDIES TO BUILD A MORE COMPLETE COSMOCHEMICAL PORTRAIT WITH FUNCTIONALITY AS OUR CHIEF TOOL. WE WILL EXPLORE THE FORMS IN WHICH PHOSPHORUS WAS DELIVERED TO THE PRE-SOLAR NEBULA. FOR EXAMPLE DID INTERSTELLAR CHEMISTRY PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SEQUESTERING THE PHOSPHORUS IN ORGANIC FORM? ALTERNATIVE EXOGENOUS SOURCES OF THIS ELEMENT CONVEYED TO PLANET SURFACES WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED. DID ORGANOPHOSPHORUS MATERIAL SURVIVE SOLAR SYSTEM FORMATION OR WAS IT ALL TRANSFERRED INTO MINERAL-LIKE MATERIAL? OUR MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH WILL CENTER ON FIVE RESEARCH TOPICS: 1) LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS OF GAS-PHASE ROTATIONAL SPECTRA OF ORGANOPHOSPHORUS AND FE/NI/P BEARING MOLECULES 2) IDENTIFICATION OF THESE MOLECULES IN STAR-FORMING REGIONS CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVELOPES PROTOPLANETARY DISKS AND COMETS USING ASTRONOMICAL DATABASES 3) SOLID-STATE MEASUREMENTS OF INSOLUBLE ORGANIC MATERIAL (IOM) IN CHONDRITIC METEORITES TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF PHOSPHORUS AND ITS FUNCTIONALITY 4) SOLID-STATE MICROSCOPY OF PRE-SOLAR GRAINS EXTRACTED FROM CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES TO EXAMINE THE PRESENCE OF PHOSPHORUS IN PARTICULAR SCHREIBERSITE AND 5) CREATION OF A PHOSPHORUS ARCHIVE TO SYNTHESIZE ALL CURRENT DATA. FOR THE GAS-PHASE STUDIES FOURIER TRANSFORM MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY AND MM/SUBMM DIRECT ABSORPTION TECHNIQUES WILL BE EMPLOYED. THE PI AND CO-I ZIURYS HAVE ALREADY SUCCESSFULLY MEASURED THE SPECTRUM OF A VARIETY OF P-BEARING MOLECULES. THIS WORK WILL BE EXTENDED TO ORGANOPHOSPHORUS MOLECULES WITH C-P P-N AND P-O BONDS TO EXAMINE FUNCTIONALITY AS WELL AS NI-P AND FE-P BONDS TO LINK TO MINERAL CARRIERS. THESE SPECIES WILL THEN BE IDENTIFIED BY THEIR LAB SPECTRA IN EXISTING OBSERVATIONAL DATA OF CIRCUMSTELLAR INTERSTELLAR AND SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES. THE PI HAS IN HAND SENSITIVE BROADBAND SPECTRAL-LINE SURVEYS OF STAR-FORMING CLOUDS CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVELOPES AND PLANETARY NEBULAE; THE ALMA ARCHIVE CAN BE SEARCHED FOR DATA IN PROTOSTELLAR DISKS AND COMETS. WE WILL THEN LINK THE ASTRONOMICAL FINDINGS TO PHOSPHORUS IN METEORITES IN PARTICULAR TO THE IOM IN PRIMITIVE CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES. CO-I ZEGA WILL MAP TYPE-1 2 AND 3 METEORITIC SAMPLES USING AN ELECTRON MICROPROBE REVEALING POCKETS OF ABUNDANT PHOSPHORUS. THESE AREAS WILL BE PROBED FOR MINERALOGY AND THE CORRELATION OF PHOSPHORUS WITH ELEMENTAL C N AND O WHICH WOULD SIGNIFY AN ORGANIC CARRIER. SECONDARY ION MASS SPECTROMETRY WILL ALSO BE USED TO MEASURE THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION (C N) OF THE P-RICH REGIONS TO ESTABLISH INTERSTELLAR ORIGINS. THE FUNCTIONAL CHEMISTRY OF PHOSPHORUS WILL BE ANALYZED WITH ELECTRON ENERGY-LOSS SPECTROSCOPY TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AND X-RAY ABSORPTION NEAR-EDGE STRUCTURE SPECTROSCOPY. IN ADDITION PRE-SOLAR GRAINS EXTRACTED FROM CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES WILL BE STUDIED BY ION AND ELECTRON-BEAM MICROSCOPY TO EXAMINE THE PRESENCE OF PHOSPHORUS IN PARTICULAR SCHREIBERSITE. ALL DATA WILL BE COMPILED AND COMPARED IN THE PHOSPHORUS ARCHIVE OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY.