Mimicking the surface and prebiotic chemistry of early Earth using flow chemistry

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1821 - 10
• Main Authors: Ritson, Dougal J., Battilocchio, Claudio, Ley, Steven V., Sutherland, John D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08-05-2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/638/403; 639/638/904; 704/445/209; Aldehydes - analysis; Biomolecules; Chemical synthesis; Chemistry; Earth, Planet; Geochemistry; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mimicry; Molecular chains; Molecular Mimicry; multidisciplinary; Nucleotides; Origin of Life; Oxazoles - chemical synthesis; Oxazoles - chemistry; Photochemical Processes; Physical Phenomena; Prebiotics; Raw materials; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Surface Properties
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04147-2

When considering life’s aetiology, the first questions that must be addressed are “how?” and “where?” were ostensibly complex molecules, considered necessary for life’s beginning, constructed from simpler, more abundant feedstock molecules on primitive Earth. Previously, we have used multiple clues from the prebiotic synthetic requirements of (proto)biomolecules to pinpoint a set of closely related geochemical scenarios that are suggestive of flow and semi-batch chemistries. We now wish to report a multistep, uninterrupted synthesis of a key heterocycle (2-aminooxazole) en route to activated nucleotides starting from highly plausible, prebiotic feedstock molecules under conditions which mimic this scenario. Further consideration of the scenario has uncovered additional pertinent and novel aspects of prebiotic chemistry, which greatly enhance the efficiency and plausibility of the synthesis.
There is still much debate on early Earth geochemical conditions affecting the chemistry of simple synthons that originated life. Here, the authors report an uninterrupted multistep synthetic route to 2-aminooxazole by means of flow chemistry equipment, mimicking a plausible early Earth (geo)chemical scenario.