Journal
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Volume 55, Issue 42, Pages 13249-13253Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201606239
Keywords
apatites; origins of life; phosphate geochemistry; prebiotic chemistry; RNA world
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Funding
- NSF
- NASA Astrobiology Program under NSF Center for Chemical Evolution [CHE-1004570, CHE-1504217]
- NASA
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Chemistry [1504217, 1004570] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The poor reactivity of insoluble phosphates, such as apatite-group minerals, has been a long-appreciated obstacle for proposed models of prebiotic organophosphate formation. This obstacle presents a significant challenge to the nascent development of an RNA world and other models for the origins of life on Earth. Herein, we demonstrate that a scenario based on the formation of a urea/ammonium formate/water (UAFW) eutectic solution leads to an increase in phosphorylation when compared to urea alone for phosphate sources of varying solubility. In addition, under evaporative conditions and in the presence of MgSO4, the UAFW eutectic mobilizes the phosphate sequestered in water-insoluble hydroxyapatite, giving rise to a marked increase in phosphorylation. These results suggest that the prebiotic concentrations of urea in a geologically plausible evaporitic environment could solve the problem of organic phosphorylation on a prebiotic Earth.
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