Prebiotic synthesis of mineral-bearing microdroplet from inorganic carbon photoreduction at air-water interface.

PNAS Nexus

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention, National Observations and Research Station for Wetland Ecosystems of the Yangtze Estuary, IRDR International Center of Excellence on Risk Interconnectivity and Governance on Weather, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P. R. China.

Published: November 2023

The origin of life on Earth is an enigmatic and intricate conundrum that has yet to be comprehensively resolved despite recent significant developments within the discipline of archaeology and geology. Chemically, metal-sulfide minerals are speculated to serve as an important medium for giving birth in early life, while yet so far direct evidence to support the hypothesis for the highly efficient conversion of inorganic carbon into praxiological biomolecules remains scarce. In this work, we provide an initial indication that sphalerite, employed as a typical mineral, shows its enormous capability for promoting the conversion of inorganic carbon into elementary biomolecule formic acid (HCOOH) in airborne mineral-bearing aerosol microdroplet, which is over two orders of magnitude higher than that of the corresponding conventional bulk-like aqueous phase medium in the environment (e.g. river, lake, sea, etc.). This significant enhancement was further validated by a wide range of minerals and clays, including CuS, NiS, CoS, CdS, MnS, elemental sulfur, Arizona Test Dust, loess, nontronite, and montmorillonite. We reveal that the abundant interface of unique physical-chemical features instinct for aerosol or cloud microdroplets reduces the reaction energy barrier for the reaction, thus leading to extremely high HCOOH production (2.52 × 10 kg year). This study unfolds unrecognized remarkable contributions of the considered scheme in the accumulation of prebiotic biomolecules in the ancient period of the Earth.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10682977PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad389DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

inorganic carbon
12
conversion inorganic
8
prebiotic synthesis
4
synthesis mineral-bearing
4
mineral-bearing microdroplet
4
microdroplet inorganic
4
carbon photoreduction
4
photoreduction air-water
4
air-water interface
4
interface origin
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!