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      Is Struvite a Prebiotic Mineral?

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      Life : Open Access Journal
      MDPI
      phosphorus, prebiotic synthesis, struvite, origin of life, phosphate esters

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          Abstract

          The prebiotic relevance of mineral struvite, MgNH 4PO 4·6H 2O, was studied experimentally as a phosphorylating reagent and, theoretically, to understand the geochemical requirements for its formation. The effectiveness of phosphorylation by the phosphate mineral, monetite, CaHPO 4, was also studied to compare to the efficiency of struvite. The experiments focused on the phosphorylation reactions of the minerals with organic compounds, such as nucleosides, glycerol and choline chloride, and heat at 75 °C for about 7–8 days and showed up to 28% phosphorylation of glycerol. In contrast, the compositional requirements for the precipitation of struvite are high ammonium and phosphate concentrations, as well as a little Ca 2+ dissolved in the water. Combined, these requirements suggest that it is not likely that struvite was present in excess on the early Earth to carry out phosphorylation reactions. The present study focuses on the thermodynamic aspects of struvite formation, complementing the results given by Orgel and Handschuh (1973), which were based on the kinetic effects.

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          Mineral evolution

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            Chemical Equilibrium in Complex Mixtures

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              Aqueous corrosion of phosphide minerals from iron meteorites: a highly reactive source of prebiotic phosphorus on the surface of the early Earth.

              We present the results of an experimental study of aqueous corrosion of Fe-phosphide under conditions relevant to the early Earth. The results strongly suggest that iron meteorites were an important source of reactive phosphorus (P), a requirement for the formation of P-based life. We further demonstrate that iron meteorites were an abundant source of phosphide minerals early in Earth history. Phosphide corrosion was studied in five different solutions: deionized water, deionized water buffered with sodium bicarbonate, deionized water with dissolved magnesium and calcium chlorides, deionized water containing ethanol and acetic acid, and deionized water containing the chlorides, ethanol, and acetic acid. Experiments were performed in the presence of both air and pure Ar gas to evaluate the effect of atmospheric chemistry. Phosphide corrosion in deionized water results in a metastable mixture of mixed-valence, P-bearing ions including pyrophosphate and triphosphate, key components for metabolism in modern life. In a pH-buffered solution of NaHCO(3), the condensed and reduced species diphosphonate is an abundant corrosion product. Corrosion in ethanol- and acetic acid-containing solutions yields additional P-bearing organic molecules, including acetyl phosphonate and a cyclic triphosphorus molecule. Phosphonate is a major corrosion product of all experiments and is the only P-bearing molecule that persists in solutions with high concentrations of magnesium and calcium chlorides, which suggests that phosphonate may have been a primitive oceanic source of P. The stability and reactivity of phosphonate and hypophosphite in solution were investigated to elucidate reaction mechanisms and the role of mineral catalysts on P-solution chemistry. Phosphonate oxidation is rapid in the presence of Fe metal but negligible in the presence of magnetite and in the control sample. The rate of hypophosphite oxidation is independent of reaction substrate.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Life (Basel)
                Life (Basel)
                life
                Life : Open Access Journal
                MDPI
                2075-1729
                29 April 2013
                June 2013
                : 3
                : 2
                : 321-330
                Affiliations
                Geology Department, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave., SCA 528, Tampa, FL 33620, USA; E-Mail: ambermaheen@ 123456yahoo.com
                Author notes
                [* ]Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: mpasek@ 123456usf.edu ; Tel.: +1-813-974-8979; Fax: +1-813-974-2654.
                Article
                life-03-00321
                10.3390/life3020321
                4187136
                9010e745-e431-4e83-854b-fe837261b250
                © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

                This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                : 14 March 2013
                : 11 April 2013
                : 11 April 2013
                Categories
                Article

                phosphorus,prebiotic synthesis,struvite,origin of life,phosphate esters

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