Peters, Sophia; Semenov, Dmitry A.; Hochleitner, Rupert; Trapp, Oliver (2023): Synthesis of prebiotic organics from CO2 by catalysis with meteoritic and volcanic particles. Scientific Reports, 13 (1). ISSN 2045-2322
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Abstract
The emergence of prebiotic organics was a mandatory step toward the origin of life. The significance of the exogenous delivery versus the in-situ synthesis from atmospheric gases is still under debate. We experimentally demonstrate that iron-rich meteoritic and volcanic particles activate and catalyse the fixation of CO2, yielding the key precursors of life-building blocks. This catalysis is robust and produces selectively aldehydes, alcohols, and hydrocarbons, independent of the redox state of the environment. It is facilitated by common minerals and tolerates a broad range of the early planetary conditions (150–300 °C, ≲ 10–50 bar, wet or dry climate). We find that up to 6 × 108 kg/year of prebiotic organics could have been synthesized by this planetary-scale process from the atmospheric CO2 on Hadean Earth.
Doc-Type: | Article (LMU) |
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Organisational unit (Faculties): | 18 Chemistry and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry |
DFG subject classification of scientific disciplines: | Natural sciences |
Date Deposited: | 13. Oct 2023 06:36 |
Last Modified: | 07. Dec 2023 12:19 |
URI: | https://oa-fund.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/934 |
DFG: | Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 364653263 |
DFG: | Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 491502892 |