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Financement britannique (458 549 £) : La nature a-t-elle utilisé le phosphore à l’état d’oxydation réduit en chimie prébiotique … Ukri 01/05/2008 Recherche et innovation du Royaume-Uni, Royaume Uni
Vue d’ensemble
Texte
La nature a-t-elle utilisé le phosphore à l’état d’oxydation réduit en chimie prébiotique ? Renforcer les arguments en faveur d’un monde sans phosphate avant le monde de l’ARN
| Abstract | Phosphate is a key ingredient in all life on Earth. Phosphate is everywhere on Earth, we dig it out of the ground as a calcium salt, we use it to brush our teeth, we consume it in food and drink every day. However, despite it being a rather common chemical, it is by no means certain that Nature chose phosphate for the earliest forms of life on Earth. A large part of the problem is that phosphate chemicals are both extremely insoluble and very unreactive chemically. In 1955, the scientist Addison Gulick proposed that this phosphate problem could have been solved if other forms of phosphorus were available on the early Earth. These chemicals, called phosphonates and phosphinates, are close relatives of phosphate but are both more soluble and chemically reactive in water. The problem is that phosphonates and phosphinates are unkown on Earth today because over the millennia, the chemical environment of Earth has changed to such a degree that only phosphates are now stable. However, we have recently discovered that phosphinates and phosphonates could have been readily available to prebiotic chemistry on the early Earth through chemical reactions of iron-rich meteorites with water in the presence of light. This discovery allows us to explore in detail the potential of phosphonates and phosphinates in the origin-of-life problem for the first time with a degree of confidence that such chemistry could have been available on the early Earth.This project is built in two parts. In Part 1 we will look in detail at how exactly phosphonates and phosphinates were formed from the chemical modification of actual meteorite fragments. In Part 2, we explore potential chemical reactions which could have taken place on an early Earth with these two phosphorus species and which could have an impact in how some of key biological molecules, such as prebiotic organic phosphorus polymers, might have emerged. |
| Category | Research Grant |
| Reference | EP/F042558/1 |
| Status | Closed |
| Funded period start | 01/05/2008 |
| Funded period end | 31/03/2012 |
| Funded value | £458 549,00 |
| Source | https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FF042558%2F1 |
Participating Organisations
| University of Leeds | |
| University of Arizona | |
| NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM |
Cette annonce se réfère à une date antérieure et ne reflète pas nécessairement l’état actuel. L’état actuel est présenté à la page suivante : University of Leeds, LS2 9JT Leeds, Royaume Uni.
