Amino Acid Reactivity as a Signature to Distinguish Life from Abiotic Matter

To the point

Scientists propose a life-detection method that looks at how reactive amino acids are, not just whether they’re present, because living systems keep more reactive ones while non-living environments destroy them, and it correctly identifies life about 95% of the time across 200+ samples, though it requires instruments that can measure both molecules and their abundances.

Chemistry clues could detect aliens unlike any life on Earth
newscientist.com

Chemistry clues could detect aliens unlike any life on Earth

Looking for molecular evidence of life on other worlds is tricky, but a test based on the reactivity of carbon compounds could be a useful indicator