Overview

Our research focuses on organic and inorganic chemistry of prospective importance to the origin of life. The question of how the first networks of reactions developed on early Earth and merged into living systems is our planet’s greatest unsolved mystery, and its answer all but certainly lies within the exclusive purview of chemistry. Each of the areas outlined below addresses a fundamentally important problem in origin-of-life chemistry and also stands to yield technology of practical value.

Group A – Reactions of Thioesters and Related Compounds

Several theories postulate that thioesters may have been compounds of prospective involvement in the origin of life, but for these theories to have merit, conditions would have needed to exist where constructive reactions could compete with hydrolysis. This study will extend our previous work with thioesters to related compounds such as thiocarbonates and thiocarbamates. The kinetics of acyl transfer reactions for many of these functional groups have not been studied at all. We will pay special attention to reactions catalyzed by water-soluble metal complexes and reactions that take place in high yield in water of mild pH.

Group B – Earth-Abundant Minerals as Catalysts for the Photochemical Reduction of CO2

These investigations explore the use of naturally-occurring minerals as catalysts for the photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2. The development of efficient methods for the photoelectrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide will support two fundamentally important tasks that face the scientific community: (i) uncovering possible molecular origins of photosynthesis on early Earth and (ii) converting solar energy into chemical fuels that are easily stored and transported. By limiting the materials investigated to those that are earth-abundant, the systems developed should be both pertinent to prebiotic chemistry and economically practical for scale up in industrial applications.

Group C – Prebiotic Solvent Systems

These projects will focus on the study of prebiotically-feasible solvents for mediating organic reactions of prospective importance to the origin of life. It is highly unlikely that life developed in deionized water or pH 7.5 phosphate-buffered saline.