Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening
The origin of life on Earth is widely believed to have required the reactions of organic compounds and their self- and/or environmental organization. What those compounds were remains open to debate, as do the environment in and process or processes by which they became organized. Prebiotic chemistr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2013-04-01
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| Series: | Life |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/3/2/331 |
| _version_ | 1798006045040181248 |
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| author | Henderson James Cleaves |
| author_facet | Henderson James Cleaves |
| author_sort | Henderson James Cleaves |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The origin of life on Earth is widely believed to have required the reactions of organic compounds and their self- and/or environmental organization. What those compounds were remains open to debate, as do the environment in and process or processes by which they became organized. Prebiotic chemistry is the systematic organized study of these phenomena. It is difficult to study poorly defined phenomena, and research has focused on producing compounds and structures familiar to contemporary biochemistry, which may or may not have been crucial for the origin of life. Given our ignorance, it may be instructive to explore the extreme regions of known and future investigations of prebiotic chemistry, where reactions fail, that will relate them to or exclude them from plausible environments where they could occur. Come critical parameters which most deserve investigation are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:48:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-93d369a9063441c084ecc83e96824085 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-1729 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:48:45Z |
| publishDate | 2013-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Life |
| spelling | doaj.art-93d369a9063441c084ecc83e968240852022-12-22T04:23:16ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292013-04-013233134510.3390/life3020331Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction ScreeningHenderson James CleavesThe origin of life on Earth is widely believed to have required the reactions of organic compounds and their self- and/or environmental organization. What those compounds were remains open to debate, as do the environment in and process or processes by which they became organized. Prebiotic chemistry is the systematic organized study of these phenomena. It is difficult to study poorly defined phenomena, and research has focused on producing compounds and structures familiar to contemporary biochemistry, which may or may not have been crucial for the origin of life. Given our ignorance, it may be instructive to explore the extreme regions of known and future investigations of prebiotic chemistry, where reactions fail, that will relate them to or exclude them from plausible environments where they could occur. Come critical parameters which most deserve investigation are discussed.http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/3/2/331chemical evolutionprebiotic organic reactions-prebiotic reactions in the aqueous phaseprebiotic reactions in the solid stateenergy sources on the primitive Earthmineral catalysis |
| spellingShingle | Henderson James Cleaves Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening Life chemical evolution prebiotic organic reactions-prebiotic reactions in the aqueous phase prebiotic reactions in the solid state energy sources on the primitive Earth mineral catalysis |
| title | Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening |
| title_full | Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening |
| title_fullStr | Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening |
| title_short | Prebiotic Chemistry: Geochemical Context and Reaction Screening |
| title_sort | prebiotic chemistry geochemical context and reaction screening |
| topic | chemical evolution prebiotic organic reactions-prebiotic reactions in the aqueous phase prebiotic reactions in the solid state energy sources on the primitive Earth mineral catalysis |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/3/2/331 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hendersonjamescleaves prebioticchemistrygeochemicalcontextandreactionscreening |