National Research Council of Italy

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IBBR publication #1862

Formamide-based prebiotic chemistry in the Phlegrean Fields

Botta L, Saladino R, Bizzarri BM, Cobucci-Ponzano B, Iacono R, Avino R, Caliro S, Carandente A, Lorenzini F, Tortora A, Di Mauro E, Moracci M

Advances in Space Research [ISSN: 0273-1177] (2017)
doi: 10.1016/j.asr.2017.07.017

Understanding the formation of biogenic molecules in abiotic conditions is a prerequisite in the origin-of-life studies. Determining the conditions allowing an efficient one-pot synthesis of the largest possible panel of biogenic compounds may shed light on the plausible scenario in which the processes that kick-started life might have occurred. We report a set of experiments describing the syntheses taking place from formamide (NH2CHO) and thermal water in the presence of meteorites, in the hydrothermal physical-chemical environment of the Phlegrean Fields. The results show that meteorites catalyse the synthesis of a large panel of organic compounds of biological relevance, including carboxylic acids, nucleobases, amino acids and sugars. The simplicity of the system (a one-carbon molecule as starting compound, a volcanic hydrothermal environment, meteorites as catalysts) hints to a possible extension of the results to similar environments present in other planetary bodies and space objects.

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