Prebiotic Chemistry of Phosphite: Mild Thermal Routes to Form Condensed-P Energy Currency Molecules Leading Up to the Formation of Organophosphorus Compounds.

ABSTRACT: The in-fall of meteorites and interstellar dust particles during the Hadean-Archean heavy bombardment may have provided the early Earth with various reduced oxidation state phosphorus compounds and minerals, including phosphite (HPO₃^2-)([Pi(III)]). The ion phosphite ([Pi(III)])has been postulated to be ubiquitous on the early Earth and consequently could have played a role in the emergence of organophosphorus compounds and other prebiotically relevant P species such as condensed P compounds, e.g., pyrophosphite ([PPi(III)]) and isohypophosphate ([PPi(III-V)]). In the present study, we show that phosphite ([Pi(III)]) oxidizes under mild heating conditions (e.g., wet-dry cycles and a prebiotic scenario mimicking a mildly hot-evaporating/drying pool on the early Earth at

SUBMITTER: Gull M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10144983 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature