Early Earth: Evolution in the abiotic world
Chemists have shown that organocatalysts go through an evolution and could have played an important role in the emergence of life
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“When we investigated the formation of amino acids and byproducts under prebiotic conditions, we discovered that imidazolidine-4-thione organocatalysts also arise in considerable quantities,” explains Trapp. These catalysts form a group of cyclic compounds that are made up of various components and are able to continuously transform by means of reversible processes. Catalysts activate or facilitate reactions. Imidazolidine-4-thione organocatalysts are photochemically active and could have played an important role in the early days of our planet, as they catalyze essential reactions such as phosphorylation and are capable of synthesizing amino acid precursors.
“With our experiments, we were able to demonstrate that these catalysts actually can go through an evolution at molecular level,” says Trapp. “Surprisingly, they can change the building blocks out of which they are made. Furthermore, they can incorporate and expel these modified building blocks and thus go through a genuine mutation.” The catalysts adapt to their environment; that is, under different conditions, various species with different catalytic characteristics are formed. This immediately opens up the possibility of multiple reaction paths for the transformation of abiotic material into functional biomolecules. As such, in the view of the authors, these organocatalysts could in fact have played an important role on the early Earth by supporting and catalyzing the development to our current biosystem.
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