Formation, stabilization and fate of acetaldehyde and higher aldehydes in an autonomously changing prebiotic system emerging from acetylene.

ABSTRACT: Many essential building blocks of life, including amino acids, sugars, and nucleosides, require aldehydes for prebiotic synthesis. Pathways for their formation under early earth conditions are therefore of great importance. We investigated the formation of aldehydes by an experimental simulation of primordial early earth conditions, in line with the metal-sulfur world theory in an acetylene-containing atmosphere. We describe a pH-driven, intrinsically autoregulatory environment that concentrates acetaldehyde and other higher molecular weight aldehydes. We demonstrate that acetaldehyde is rapidly formed from acetylene over a nickel sulfide catalyst in an aqueous solution, followed by sequential reactions progressively increasing the molecular diversity and complexity of the reaction mixture

SUBMITTER: Diederich P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9947100 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature