The discovery of the C₂H₅NO₂ compound glycoloamide [NH₂C(O)CH₂OH] was reported in August 2023 by Rivilla and co-workers toward the molecular cloud G+0.693-0.027 in the Sgr B2 region in the center of the galaxy. The observations were made with the Yebes 40m and IRAM 30m radiotelescopes. The detection was based on experimental work by Sanz-Novo and co-workers from 2020, who had unsuccessfully sought glycolamide toward Sgr B2(N). The new detection has yet to be confirmed.

Gycolamide or 2-hydroxyacetamide is an isomer of glycine, one of the most-sought but undetected potential astromolecules. A study by Lattelais and co-workers cited by Rivilla et al. noted that glycine is not the most stable C₂H₅NO₂ isomer, which may account for its non-detection. While Rivilla et al. shows that glycolamide is more stable than glycine, they also note that isomer stability is not necessarily a dominating principle for predicting which molecules are detectable or for accounting for relative abundances of different isomers.