The Exceptional Solubility of Cyclic Trimetaphosphate in the Presence of Mg²⁺ and Ca².

ABSTRACT: Studying the origin of life requires identifying chemical and physical processes that could have supported early self-replicating and evolving molecular systems. Besides the requirement of information storage and transfer, an essential aspect is an energy source that could have thermodynamically driven the formation and replication of these molecular assemblies. Chemical energy sources such as cyclic trimetaphosphate are attractive because they could drive replication with relatively simple catalysts. Here, we focus on cyclic trimetaphosphate (cTmp), and compare its solubility in water to linear triphosphate, pyrophosphate, and phosphite when Mg²⁺ or Ca²⁺ are present. These solubilities are important for facilitating the reactions under prebiotically plausible conditi

SUBMITTER: Bachant MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12842746 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature