On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life
Despite more than one hundred years of work on organosilicon chemistry, the basis for the plausibility of silicon-based life has never been systematically addressed nor objectively reviewed. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of silicon-based biochemistry, based on a review of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Life |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/6/84 |
| _version_ | 1797565660408053760 |
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| author | Janusz Jurand Petkowski William Bains Sara Seager |
| author_facet | Janusz Jurand Petkowski William Bains Sara Seager |
| author_sort | Janusz Jurand Petkowski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite more than one hundred years of work on organosilicon chemistry, the basis for the plausibility of silicon-based life has never been systematically addressed nor objectively reviewed. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of silicon-based biochemistry, based on a review of what is known and what has been modeled, even including speculative work. We assess whether or not silicon chemistry meets the requirements for chemical diversity and reactivity as compared to carbon. To expand the possibility of plausible silicon biochemistry, we explore silicon’s chemical complexity in diverse solvents found in planetary environments, including water, cryosolvents, and sulfuric acid. In no environment is a life based primarily around silicon chemistry a plausible option. We find that in a water-rich environment silicon’s chemical capacity is highly limited due to ubiquitous silica formation; silicon can likely only be used as a rare and specialized heteroatom. Cryosolvents (e.g., liquid N<sub>2</sub>) provide extremely low solubility of all molecules, including organosilicons. Sulfuric acid, surprisingly, appears to be able to support a much larger diversity of organosilicon chemistry than water. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:15:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-906104f7447b4ad5bb9a148bde467078 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-1729 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:15:12Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Life |
| spelling | doaj.art-906104f7447b4ad5bb9a148bde4670782023-11-20T03:27:01ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292020-06-011068410.3390/life10060084On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for LifeJanusz Jurand Petkowski0William Bains1Sara Seager2Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USADespite more than one hundred years of work on organosilicon chemistry, the basis for the plausibility of silicon-based life has never been systematically addressed nor objectively reviewed. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of silicon-based biochemistry, based on a review of what is known and what has been modeled, even including speculative work. We assess whether or not silicon chemistry meets the requirements for chemical diversity and reactivity as compared to carbon. To expand the possibility of plausible silicon biochemistry, we explore silicon’s chemical complexity in diverse solvents found in planetary environments, including water, cryosolvents, and sulfuric acid. In no environment is a life based primarily around silicon chemistry a plausible option. We find that in a water-rich environment silicon’s chemical capacity is highly limited due to ubiquitous silica formation; silicon can likely only be used as a rare and specialized heteroatom. Cryosolvents (e.g., liquid N<sub>2</sub>) provide extremely low solubility of all molecules, including organosilicons. Sulfuric acid, surprisingly, appears to be able to support a much larger diversity of organosilicon chemistry than water.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/6/84silicon-based lifealternative biochemistryalternative solventssulfuric acid biochemistry |
| spellingShingle | Janusz Jurand Petkowski William Bains Sara Seager On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life Life silicon-based life alternative biochemistry alternative solvents sulfuric acid biochemistry |
| title | On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life |
| title_full | On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life |
| title_fullStr | On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life |
| title_short | On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life |
| title_sort | on the potential of silicon as a building block for life |
| topic | silicon-based life alternative biochemistry alternative solvents sulfuric acid biochemistry |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/6/84 |
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