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Mineral surfaces and zinc ions can promote prebiotic ring-closure reactions, forming key molecules like 5-carboxymethylhydantoin (Hy) and dihydroorotate (DHO) relevant to the origins of life.

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Area of Science:

  • Prebiotic chemistry
  • Geochemistry
  • Origins of life studies

Background:

  • Pyrimidine anabolism involves crucial ring-closure reactions.
  • Mineral catalysis is a potential mechanism for prebiotic chemical evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate mineral-promoted cyclization reactions relevant to early life.
  • To explore the role of zinc ions in prebiotic synthesis.
  • To understand mineral surface effects on N-carbamoyl-aspartic acid (NCA) cyclization.

Main Methods:

  • Testing various prebiotic minerals (silica, carbonates, microporous minerals).
  • Utilizing in situ (TGA, ATR-IR) and ex situ (¹H NMR) characterization techniques.
  • Investigating thermal activation of NCA under wetting-and-drying conditions.

Main Results:

  • NCA cyclization is surface-dependent, favoring 5-carboxymethylhydantoin (Hy) over dihydroorotate (DHO) on certain minerals.
  • Hydrolysis competes with cyclization on other mineral surfaces.
  • Mineral hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity influences regioselectivity.
  • Heterogeneous catalysts can replace enzymes in cyclic amidohydrolase reactions.

Conclusions:

  • Minerals, particularly with zinc ions, can catalyze essential prebiotic ring-closure reactions.
  • This study provides insights into mineral-mediated synthesis of key organic molecules for early life.
  • Mineral surface properties significantly impact the outcome of prebiotic reactions.