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- Title
A Universal Geochemical Scenario for Formamide Condensation and Prebiotic Chemistry.
- Authors
Saladino, Raffaele; Di Mauro, Ernesto; García‐Ruiz, Juan Manuel
- Abstract
The condensation of formamide has been shown to be a robust chemical pathway affording molecules necessary for the origin of life. It has been experimentally demonstrated that condensation reactions of formamide are catalyzed by a number of minerals, including silicates, phosphates, sulfides, zirconia, and borates, and by cosmic dusts and meteorites. However, a critical discussion of the catalytic power of the tested minerals, and the geochemical conditions under which the condensation would occur, is still missing. We show here that mineral self‐assembled structures forming under alkaline silica‐rich solutions are excellent catalysts for the condensation of formamide with respect to other minerals. We also propose that these structures were likely forming as early as 4.4 billion years ago when the whole earth surface was a reactor, a global scale factory, releasing large amounts of organic compounds. Our experimental results suggest that the conditions required for the synthesis of the molecular bricks from which life self‐assembles, rather than being local and bizarre, appears to be universal and geologically rather conventional. During growth, mineral vesicles catalyze the prebiotic synthesis of organic molecules of biological relevance from formamide in a silica serpentinization‐like environment mimicking the geochemical scenarios of primitive earth 4400 million years ago. At the critical growth point mineral vesicles break releasing their content in the bulk of the solution.
- Subjects
FORMAMIDE; SILICATES; MINERALS; ORGANIC compounds; PREBIOTICS
- Publication
Chemistry - A European Journal, 2019, Vol 25, Issue 13, p3181
- ISSN
0947-6539
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/chem.201803889