Primordial oil slick and the formation of hydrophobic tetrapyrrole macrocycles.

ABSTRACT: The functional end products of the extant biosynthesis of tetrapyrrole macrocycles in photosynthetic organisms are hydrophobic: chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls. A model for the possible prebiogenesis of hydrophobic analogues of nature's photosynthetic pigments was investigated by reaction of acyclic reactants in five media: aqueous solution (pH 7, 60°C, 24 h); aqueous solution containing 0.1 M decanoic acid (which forms a turbid suspension of vesicles); or aqueous solution accompanied by dodecane, mesitylene, or a five-component organic mixture (each of which forms a phase-separated organic layer). The organic mixture was composed of equimolar quantities of decanoic acid, dodecane, mesitylene, naphthalene, and pentyl acetate. The reaction of 1,5-dimethoxy-3-methylpentan-2,4-dione and

SUBMITTER: Soares AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3491618 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature