Stringent selection on kinetics of condensation reactions: early steps in chemical evolution.

ABSTRACT: The emergence of chemical selectivity poses a central challenge in origins-of-life research. As demonstrated by analyses of asteroid and meteorite samples, abiotic chemistry is incredibly messy. Experiments show that even limited sets of reactive species can undergo vast numbers of distinct chemical transformations, leading to a combinatorial explosion of products. These explosions arise from the numerous ways in which reactants in mixtures can combine, generating large and chemically diverse ensembles that reduce or even preclude the possibility of productive pathways of chemical evolution. However, recent empirical studies have demonstrated that chemical systems can exhibit combinatorial compression - a marked reduction in product diversity relative to combinatorial expectations. This se

SUBMITTER: Capera-Aragones P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12922792 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature