Graphitization Could Have Form the Molecules Vital to the Development of Life, Study Suggests

It has been a mystery how the unexpected conditions for life arose in nature, with many theories reaching dead ends. A team of researchers, however, have modeled how these conditions could occur, creating the vital ingredients for life in substantial quantities.

Search for the Key of Life

Life is governed by molecules called nucleotides, phospholipids, and proteins. Prior studies suggest that useful molecules containing nitriles and isonitriles can be used to make the building blocks of life. However, there has been no clear approach to making all these compounds substantially in the same environment. Most of the problems with previous models of life formation is that a range of other products are created along with the nitriles. This makes a messy system that hinders the formation of life.

In a recent study, experts from Cambridge University found the process that formed the molecules vital for life. Once verified in the laboratory, this could enable them to recreate plausible conditions for the emergence of life.

The team suggests that significant amounts of these useful molecules can be theoretically made through graphitization. The paper "A Surface Hydrothermal Source of Nitriles and Isonitriles" claims that this process was a likely step for early Earth on its journey toward life.

According to study co-author Dr. Paul Rimmer, simplicity is a significant part of life. It is finding a way to eliminate complexity by controlling what chemistry can happen. Scientists do not expect life to be produced in a messy environment. What is fascinating is how graphitization itself cleans the environment since this process exclusively creates nitriles and isonitriles, with mostly inert side-products.

At first, scientists thought this would spoil everything, but it makes everything so much better. This means graphitization could offer the simplicity experts are searching for and the clean environment needed for life.

How Does Graphitization Work?

The Earth was very different from our modern home during the Hadeon eon, the earliest period in our planet's history. Impacts with debris, sometimes the size of planets, were common. Around 4.3 billion years ago, when the early Earth was hit by an object about the size of the moon, the iron it contained reacted with water on Earth.

The products of the iron-water reaction condense into tar on the surface of the Earth. Then, the tar reacts with magma at more than 1500 degrees Celsius, and the carbon in the tar becomes graphite, a highly formed form of carbon that we use in modern pencil leads. Once the iron reacts with water, the formed mist condenses and mixes with the crust of the Earth. When it got heated, what was left was the useful nitrogen that contained the compounds.

The presence of komatiitic rocks supported this theory. Komatiite is a kind of volcanic rock made when very hot magma cools. This rock was originally found in South Africa and dated around 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists know that these rocks only form at very high temperatures, around 1700 degrees Celsius. This means that magma would already have been hot enough to heat the tar and create useful nitriles.