Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ruiz-Bermejo, M
• Menor-Salván, C
• Osuna-Esteban, S
• Veintemillas-Verdaguer, S

Titel

The effects of ferrous and other ions on the abiotic formation of biomolecules using aqueous aerosols and spark discharges

Ist Teil von

• Origins of life and evolution of biospheres, 2007-12, Vol.37 (6), p.507-521

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Springer Nature B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• It has been postulated that the oceans on early Earth had a salinity of 1.5 to 2 times the modern value and a pH between 4 and 10. Moreover, the presence of the banded iron formations shows that Fe(+2) was present in significant concentrations in the primitive oceans. Assuming the hypotheses above, in this work we explore the effects of Fe(+2) and other ions in the generation of biomolecules in prebiotic simulation experiments using spark discharges and aqueous aerosols. These aerosols have been prepared using different sources of Fe(+2), such as FeS, FeCl(2) and FeCO(3), and other salts (alkaline and alkaline earth chlorides and sodium bicarbonate at pH = 5.8). In all these experiments, we observed the formation of some amino acids, carboxylic acids and heterocycles, involved in biological processes. An interesting consequence of the presence of soluble Fe(+2) was the formation of Prussian Blue, Fe(4)[Fe(CN)(6)](3), which has been suggested as a possible reservoir of HCN in the initial prebiotic conditions on the Earth.