1
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Knížek A, Petera L, Laitl V, Ferus M. Decomposition of HCN during Experimental Impacts in Dry and Wet Planetary Atmospheres. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2024; 8:1246-1258. [PMID: 38919854 PMCID: PMC11195306 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.4c00064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a key molecule of significant importance in contemporary perspectives on prebiotic chemistry, originates in planetary atmospheres from various processes, such as photochemistry, thermochemistry, and impact chemistry, as well as from delivery by impacts. The resilience of HCN during periods of heavy bombardment, a phenomenon caused by an influx of material on unstable trajectories after accretion, remains relatively understudied. This study extensively investigates the stability of HCN under impact conditions simulated using a laboratory Nd:YAG laser in the ELISE experimental setup. High-resolution infrared spectroscopy was employed to monitor the gas phase composition during these simulations. Impact chemistry was simulated in bulk nitrogen atmospheres with varying mixing ratios of HCN and water vapor. The probed range of compositions spans from ∼0 to 1.8% of HCN and 0 to 2.7% of H2O in a ∼1 bar nitrogen atmosphere. The primary decomposition products of HCN are CO and CO2 in the presence of water and unidentified solid phase products in dry conditions. Our experiments revealed a range of initial HCN decomposition rates between 2.43 × 1015 and 5.17 × 1017 molec J-1 of input energy depending on the initial composition. Notably, it is shown that the decomposition process induced by the laser spark simulating the impact plasma is nonlinear, with the duration of the irradiation markedly affecting the decomposition rate. These findings underscore the necessity for careful consideration and allowance for margins when applying these rates to chemical models of molecular synthesis and decomposition in planetary atmospheres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonín Knížek
- J.Heyrovský
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czech Academy
of Sciences, Dolejškova
2155/3, CZ18223 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Lukáš Petera
- J.Heyrovský
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czech Academy
of Sciences, Dolejškova
2155/3, CZ18223 Prague, Czech Republic
- Department
of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Hlavova 8, CZ12800 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Vojtěch Laitl
- J.Heyrovský
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czech Academy
of Sciences, Dolejškova
2155/3, CZ18223 Prague, Czech Republic
- Faculty
of Science, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, BE2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Martin Ferus
- J.Heyrovský
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czech Academy
of Sciences, Dolejškova
2155/3, CZ18223 Prague, Czech Republic
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2
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Vadivelmurugan A, Sharmila R, Pan WL, Tsai SW. Preparation and Evaluation of Aminomalononitrile-Coated Ca-Sr Metal-Organic Frameworks as Drug Delivery Carriers for Antibacterial Applications. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:41909-41917. [PMID: 37970043 PMCID: PMC10633883 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c06991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
After orthopedic surgery, antibiotics are usually employed to reduce the risk of infection. If it is possible to enhance antimicrobial functionality and incorporate antimicrobial agents into the bone-filling matrix, not only it can promote bone tissue regeneration, but it can also enable localized administration of medication to elevate antibacterial efficacy. Meanwhile, previous studies have shown that calcium and strontium can support the growth of osteoblastic cells and diminish bone resorption or deterioration. In the past few years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely used as drug carriers owing to their characteristic advantages. In this study, a MOF was prepared in an aqueous solution by a simple coprecipitation method with the organic ligand 1,3,5-tricarboxylic benzene (H3BTC) as a linker to form Ca-Sr-MOF. Furthermore, the Ca-Sr-MOF was coated with aminomalononitrile (AMN), which adhered through the electrostatic interactions between H3BTC and AMN. With this MOF (Ca-Sr-AMN-MOF), AMN polymerization reactions can occur in aqueous environments, and a polymer layer was observed on the MOF surface with moderate hydrophilicity. The prepared Ca-Sr-MOF and Ca-Sr-AMN-MOF were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and UV-visible spectroscopy. Finally, tetracycline (TC) was selected as the model drug to measure the drug loading efficiency, release profile, and antibiotic activity. The percent cumulative drug release of TC from Ca-Sr-MOF and Ca-Sr-AMN-MOF was 55.15 and 9.1%, respectively. The antibacterial effectiveness of TC-loaded MOF against Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria was evaluated, revealing the remarkable antimicrobial performance of these substances.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ramalingam Sharmila
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan
| | - Whei-Lin Pan
- Department
of Periodontics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei 10507, Taiwan
| | - Shiao-Wen Tsai
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan
- Department
of Periodontics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei 10507, Taiwan
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3
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Nogal N, Sanz-Sánchez M, Vela-Gallego S, Ruiz-Mirazo K, de la Escosura A. The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry. Chem Soc Rev 2023; 52:7359-7388. [PMID: 37855729 PMCID: PMC10614573 DOI: 10.1039/d3cs00594a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
The field of prebiotic chemistry has been dedicated over decades to finding abiotic routes towards the molecular components of life. There is nowadays a handful of prebiotically plausible scenarios that enable the laboratory synthesis of most amino acids, fatty acids, simple sugars, nucleotides and core metabolites of extant living organisms. The major bottleneck then seems to be the self-organization of those building blocks into systems that can self-sustain. The purpose of this tutorial review is having a close look, guided by experimental research, into the main synthetic pathways of prebiotic chemistry, suggesting how they could be wired through common intermediates and catalytic cycles, as well as how recursively changing conditions could help them engage in self-organized and dissipative networks/assemblies (i.e., systems that consume chemical or physical energy from their environment to maintain their internal organization in a dynamic steady state out of equilibrium). In the article we also pay attention to the implications of this view for the emergence of homochirality. The revealed connectivity between those prebiotic routes should constitute the basis for a robust research program towards the bottom-up implementation of protometabolic systems, taken as a central part of the origins-of-life problem. In addition, this approach should foster further exploration of control mechanisms to tame the combinatorial explosion that typically occurs in mixtures of various reactive precursors, thus regulating the functional integration of their respective chemistries into self-sustaining protocellular assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noemí Nogal
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Marcos Sanz-Sánchez
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Sonia Vela-Gallego
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo
- Biofisika Institute (CSIC, UPV/EHU), University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain
- Department of Philosophy, University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain
| | - Andrés de la Escosura
- Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Campus Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
- Institute for Advanced Research in Chemistry (IAdChem), Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
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4
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Gull M, Feng T, Smith B, Calcul L, Pasek MA. Prebiotic Syntheses of Organophosphorus Compounds from Reduced Source of Phosphorus in Non-Aqueous Solvents. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:2134. [PMID: 38004274 PMCID: PMC10672063 DOI: 10.3390/life13112134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Reduced-oxidation-state phosphorus (reduced P, hereafter) compounds were likely available on the early Earth via meteorites or through various geologic processes. Due to their reactivity and high solubility, these compounds could have played a significant role in the origin of various organophosphorus compounds of biochemical significance. In the present work, we study the reactions between reduced P compounds and their oxidation products, with the three nucleosides (uridine, adenosine, and cytidine), with organic alcohols (glycerol and ethanolamine), and with the tertiary ammonium organic compound, choline chloride. These reactions were studied in the non-aqueous solvent formamide and in a semi-aqueous solvent comprised of urea: ammonium formate: water (UAFW, hereafter) at temperatures of 55-68 °C. The inorganic P compounds generated through Fenton chemistry readily dissolve in the non-aqueous and semi-aqueous solvents and react with organics to form organophosphites and organophosphates, including those which are identified as phosphate diesters. This dual approach (1) use of non-aqueous and semi-aqueous solvents and (2) use of a reactive inorganic P source to promote phosphorylation and phosphonylation reactions of organics readily promoted anhydrous chemistry and condensation reactions, without requiring any additive, catalyst, or other promoting agent under mild heating conditions. We also present a comparative study of the release of P from various prebiotically relevant phosphate minerals and phosphite salts (e.g., vivianite, apatite, and phosphites of iron and calcium) into formamide and UAFW. These results have direct implications for the origin of biological P compounds from non-aqueous solvents of prebiotic provenance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maheen Gull
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. NES 204, Tampa, FL 33584, USA; (T.F.); (M.A.P.)
| | - Tian Feng
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. NES 204, Tampa, FL 33584, USA; (T.F.); (M.A.P.)
| | - Benjamin Smith
- Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. CHE 205, Tampa, FL 33620, USA; (L.C.); (B.S.)
| | - Laurent Calcul
- Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. CHE 205, Tampa, FL 33620, USA; (L.C.); (B.S.)
| | - Matthew A. Pasek
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. NES 204, Tampa, FL 33584, USA; (T.F.); (M.A.P.)
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Sturtz M, House C. Metal Catalysis Acting on Nitriles in Early Earth Hydrothermal Systems. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:1524. [PMID: 37511899 PMCID: PMC10381589 DOI: 10.3390/life13071524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Hydrothermal systems are areas in which heated fluids and organic molecules rush through basaltic material rich in metals and minerals. By studying malononitrile and acetonitrile, we examine the effects of metal and mineral nanoparticles on nitrile compounds in anoxic, hydrothermal conditions representing a prebiotic environment of early Earth. Polymerization, reduction, cyclization, and a phenomenon colloquially known as 'chemical gardening' (structure building via reprecipitation of metal compounds or complexing with organics) are all potential outcomes with the addition of metals and minerals. Reduction occurs with the addition of rhodium (Rh) or iron (II) sulfide (FeS), with positive identification of ethanol and ethylamine forming from acetonitrile reduction. We find that polymerization and insoluble product formation were associated with oxide minerals, metallic nickel (Ni), and metallic cobalt (Co) acting as catalysts. Oxide minerals strongly promoted polymerization into insoluble, tar-like products of nitriles. FeS, iron-nickel alloy (FeNi), and rhodium are unique cases that appear to act as reagents by actively participating in chemical gardening without returning to their initial state. Further, FeS tentatively had a phase change into the mineral parabutlerite. This research aims to identify metals and metal minerals that could best serve nitrile catalysis and reactions on early Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miranda Sturtz
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, 116 Deike Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Christopher House
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, 116 Deike Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Zhao Q, Garimella SS, Savoie BM. Thermally Accessible Prebiotic Pathways for Forming Ribonucleic Acid and Protein Precursors from Aqueous Hydrogen Cyanide. J Am Chem Soc 2023; 145:6135-6143. [PMID: 36883252 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c11857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/09/2023]
Abstract
The search for prebiotic chemical pathways to biologically relevant molecules is a long-standing puzzle that has generated a menagerie of competing hypotheses with limited experimental prospects for falsification. However, the advent of computational network exploration methodologies has created the opportunity to compare the kinetic plausibility of various channels and even propose new pathways. Here, the space of organic molecules that can be formed within four polar or pericyclic reactions from water and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), two established prebiotic candidates for generating biological precursors, was comprehensively explored with a state-of-the-art exploration algorithm. A surprisingly diverse reactivity landscape was revealed within just a few steps of these simple molecules. Reaction pathways to several biologically relevant molecules were discovered involving lower activation energies and fewer reaction steps compared with recently proposed alternatives. Accounting for water-catalyzed reactions qualitatively affects the interpretation of the network kinetics. The case-study also highlights omissions of simpler and lower barrier reaction pathways to certain products by other algorithms that qualitatively affect the interpretation of HCN reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiyuan Zhao
- Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, United States
| | - Sanjay S Garimella
- Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, United States
| | - Brett M Savoie
- Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, United States
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7
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Hortelano C, Ruiz-Bermejo M, de la Fuente JL. Kinetic Study of the Effective Thermal Polymerization of a Prebiotic Monomer: Aminomalononitrile. Polymers (Basel) 2023; 15:polym15030486. [PMID: 36771787 PMCID: PMC9919159 DOI: 10.3390/polym15030486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Aminomalononitrile (AMN), the HCN formal trimer, is a molecule of interest in prebiotic chemistry, in fine organic synthesis, and, currently, in materials science, mainly for bio-applications. Herein, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements by means of non-isothermal experiments of the stable AMN p-toluenesulfonate salt (AMNS) showed successful bulk AMN polymerization. The results indicated that this thermally stimulated polymerization is initiated at relatively low temperatures, and an autocatalytic kinetic model can be used to appropriately describe, determining the kinetic triplet, including the activation energy, the pre-exponential factor, and the mechanism function (Eα, A and f(α)). A preliminary structural characterization, by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, supported the effective generation of HCN-derived polymers prepared from AMNS. This study demonstrated the autocatalytic, highly efficient, and straightforward character of AMN polymerization, and to the best of our knowledge, it describes, for the first time, a systematic and extended kinetic analysis for gaining mechanistic insights into this process. The latter was accomplished through the help of simultaneous thermogravimetry (TG)-DSC and the in situ mass spectrometry (MS) technique for investigating the gas products generated during these polymerizations. These analyses revealed that dehydrocyanation and deamination processes must be important elimination reactions involved in the complex AMN polymerization mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Hortelano
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial “Esteban Terradas” (INTA), Ctra. de Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
| | - Marta Ruiz-Bermejo
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
| | - José L. de la Fuente
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial “Esteban Terradas” (INTA), Ctra. de Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
- Correspondence:
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8
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Multivariate Analysis Applied to Microwave-Driven Cyanide Polymerization: A Statistical View of a Complex System. Polymers (Basel) 2023; 15:polym15020410. [PMID: 36679288 PMCID: PMC9866860 DOI: 10.3390/polym15020410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Revised: 12/30/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
For the first time, chemometrics was applied to the recently reported microwave-driven cyanide polymerization. Fast, easy, robust, low-cost, and green-solvent processes are characteristic of these types of reactions. These economic and environmental benefits, originally inspired by the constraints imposed by plausible prebiotic synthetic conditions, have taken advantage of the development of a new generation of HCN-derived multifunctional materials. HCN-derived polymers present tunable properties by temperature and reaction time. However, the apparently random behavior observed in the evolution of cyanide polymerizations, assisted by microwave radiation over time at different temperatures, leads us to study this highly complex system using multivariate analytical tools to have a proper view of the system. Two components are sufficient to explain between 84 and 98% of the total variance in the data in all principal component analyses. In addition, two components explain more than 91% of the total variance in the data in the case of principal component analysis for categorical data. These consistent statistical results indicate that microwave-driven polymerization is a more robust process than conventional thermal syntheses but also that plausible prebiotic chemistry in alkaline subaerial environments could be more complex than in the aerial part of these systems, presenting a clear example of the "messy chemistry" approach of interest in the research about the origins of life. In addition, the methodology discussed herein could be useful for the data analysis of extraterrestrial samples and for the design of soft materials, in a feedback view between prebiotic chemistry and materials science.
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Hortelano C, Ruiz-Bermejo M, de la Fuente JL. Air Effect on Both Polymerization Kinetics And Thermal Degradation Properties of Novel HCN Polymers Based on Diaminomaleonitrile. Polym Degrad Stab 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2022.110205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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10
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Pérez-Fernández C, Vega J, Rayo-Pizarroso P, Mateo-Marti E, Ruiz-Bermejo M. Prebiotic synthesis of noncanonical nucleobases under plausible alkaline hydrothermal conditions. Sci Rep 2022; 12:15140. [PMID: 36071125 PMCID: PMC9452575 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-19474-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Herein, the potential of alkaline hydrothermal environments for the synthesis of possible ancestral pre-RNA nucleobases using cyanide as a primary source of carbon and nitrogen is described. Water cyanide polymerizations were assisted by microwave radiation to obtain high temperature and a relatively high pressure (MWR, 180 °C, 15 bar) and were also carried out using a conventional thermal system (CTS, 80 °C, 1 bar) to simulate subaerial and aerial hydrothermal conditions, respectively, on the early Earth. For these syntheses, the initial concentration of cyanide and the diffusion effects were studied. In addition, it is well known that hydrolysis conditions are directly related to the amount and diversity of organic molecules released from cyanide polymers. Thus, as a first step, we studied the effect of several hydrolysis procedures, generally used in prebiotic chemistry, on some of the potential pre-RNA nucleobases of interest, together with some of their isomers and/or deamination products, also presumably formed in these complex reactions. The results show that the alkaline hydrothermal scenarios with a relatively constant pH are good geological scenarios for the generation of noncanonical nucleobases using cyanide as a prebiotic precursor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Pérez-Fernández
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) CSIC-INTA, Dpto. Evolución Molecular, Carretera de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jorge Vega
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) CSIC-INTA, Dpto. Evolución Molecular, Carretera de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pedro Rayo-Pizarroso
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) CSIC-INTA, Dpto. Evolución Molecular, Carretera de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850, Madrid, Spain
| | - Eva Mateo-Marti
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) CSIC-INTA, Dpto. Evolución Molecular, Carretera de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marta Ruiz-Bermejo
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) CSIC-INTA, Dpto. Evolución Molecular, Carretera de Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850, Madrid, Spain.
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11
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Ruiz-Bermejo M, García-Armada P, Valles P, de la Fuente JL. Semiconducting Soft Submicron Particles from the Microwave-Driven Polymerization of Diaminomaleonitrile. Polymers (Basel) 2022; 14:polym14173460. [PMID: 36080535 PMCID: PMC9460857 DOI: 10.3390/polym14173460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The polymers based on diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN polymers) are a special group within an extensive set of complex substances, namely HCN polymers (DAMN is the formal tetramer of the HCN), which currently present a growing interest in materials science. Recently, the thermal polymerizability of DAMN has been reported, both in an aqueous medium and in bulk, offering the potential for the development of capacitors and biosensors, respectively. In the present work, the polymerization of this plausible prebiotic molecule has been hydrothermally explored using microwave radiation (MWR) via the heating of aqueous DAMN suspensions at 170–190 °C. In this way, polymeric submicron particles derived from DAMN were obtained for the first time. The structural, thermal decomposition, and electrochemical properties were also deeply evaluated. The redox behavior was characterized from DMSO solutions of these highly conjugated macromolecular systems and their potential as semiconductors was described. As a result, new semiconducting polymeric submicron particles were synthetized using a very fast, easy, highly robust, and green-solvent process. These results show a new example of the great potential of the polymerization assisted by MWR associated with the HCN-derived polymers, which has a dual interest both in chemical evolution and as functional materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Ruiz-Bermejo
- Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +34-915206458
| | - Pilar García-Armada
- Department of Industrial Chemical Engineering, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain
| | - Pilar Valles
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial “Esteban Terradas” (INTA), Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
| | - José L. de la Fuente
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial “Esteban Terradas” (INTA), Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
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12
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Bizzarri BM, Fanelli A, Cesarini S, Saladino R. A Three‐Way Regioselective Synthesis of Amino‐Acid Decorated Imidazole, Purine and Pyrimidine Derivatives by Multicomponent Chemistry Starting from Prebiotic Diaminomaleonitrile. European J Org Chem 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.202200598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Mattia Bizzarri
- Universita degli Studi della Tuscia Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche Via Camillo de Lellis snc 01100 VITERBO ITALY
| | - Angelica Fanelli
- Università degli Studi della Tuscia: Universita degli Studi della Tuscia Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche ITALY
| | - Silvia Cesarini
- Università degli Studi della Tuscia: Universita degli Studi della Tuscia Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche ITALY
| | - Raffaele Saladino
- Università degli Studi della Tuscia: Universita degli Studi della Tuscia Scienze Ecologiche e Biologiche ITALY
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13
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Hockey EK, Vlahos K, Howard T, Palko J, Dodson LG. Weakly Bound Complex Formation between HCN and CH 3Cl: A Matrix-Isolation and Computational Study. J Phys Chem A 2022; 126:3110-3123. [PMID: 35583384 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c00716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The matrix-isolated infrared spectrum of a hydrogen cyanide-methyl chloride complex was investigated in a solid argon matrix. HCN and CH3Cl were co-condensed onto a substrate held at 10 K with an excess of argon gas, and the infrared spectrum was measured using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Quantum chemical geometry optimization, harmonic frequency, and natural bonding orbital calculations indicate stabilized hydrogen- and halogen-bonded structures. The two resulting weakly bound complexes are both composed of one CH3Cl molecule bound to a (HCN)3 subunit, where the three HCN molecules are bound head-to-tail in a ring formation. Our study suggests that─in the presence of CH3Cl─the formation of (HCN)3 is promoted through complexation. Since HCN aggregates are an important precursor to prebiotic monomers (amino acids and nucleobases) and other life-bearing polymers, this study has astrophysical implications toward the search for life in space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily K Hockey
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Korina Vlahos
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Thomas Howard
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Jessica Palko
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Leah G Dodson
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
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14
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Arya A, Ray J, Sharma S, Cruz Simbron R, Lozano A, Smith HB, Andersen JL, Chen H, Meringer M, Cleaves HJ. An open source computational workflow for the discovery of autocatalytic networks in abiotic reactions. Chem Sci 2022; 13:4838-4853. [PMID: 35655880 PMCID: PMC9067619 DOI: 10.1039/d2sc00256f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A central question in origins of life research is how non-entailed chemical processes, which simply dissipate chemical energy because they can do so due to immediate reaction kinetics and thermodynamics, enabled the origin of highly-entailed ones, in which concatenated kinetically and thermodynamically favorable processes enhanced some processes over others. Some degree of molecular complexity likely had to be supplied by environmental processes to produce entailed self-replicating processes. The origin of entailment, therefore, must connect to fundamental chemistry that builds molecular complexity. We present here an open-source chemoinformatic workflow to model abiological chemistry to discover such entailment. This pipeline automates generation of chemical reaction networks and their analysis to discover novel compounds and autocatalytic processes. We demonstrate this pipeline's capabilities against a well-studied model system by vetting it against experimental data. This workflow can enable rapid identification of products of complex chemistries and their underlying synthetic relationships to help identify autocatalysis, and potentially self-organization, in such systems. The algorithms used in this study are open-source and reconfigurable by other user-developed workflows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aayush Arya
- Department of Physics, Lovely Professional University Jalandhar Delhi-GT Road Phagwara Punjab 144411 India
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
| | - Jessica Ray
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
| | - Siddhant Sharma
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Department of Biochemistry, Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi New Delhi 110019 India
| | - Romulo Cruz Simbron
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Laboratorio de Investigación Fisicoquímica (LABINFIS), Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería Av. Túpac Amaru 210 Lima Peru
- Centro de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones (CTIC UNI), Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria Av. Túpac Amaru 210 Lima Peru
| | - Alejandro Lozano
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Biotecnología - Instituto Politécnico Nacional 550 Av. Acueducto 07340 Mexico City Mexico
| | - Harrison B Smith
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan
| | - Jakob Lykke Andersen
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Southern Denmark Campusvej 55 5230 Odense M Denmark
| | - Huan Chen
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Tallahassee Florida 32310 USA
| | - Markus Meringer
- German Aerospace Center (DLR) 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen Wessling Germany
| | - Henderson James Cleaves
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science Seattle Washington 98104 USA
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Japan
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15
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HCN-derived polymers from thermally induced polymerization of diaminomaleonitrile: A non-enzymatic peroxide sensor based on prebiotic chemistry. Eur Polym J 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2021.110897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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16
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Pérez-Fernández C, Valles P, González-Toril E, Mateo-Martí E, de la Fuente JL, Ruiz-Bermejo M. Tuning the Morphology in the Nanoscale of NH 4CN Polymers Synthesized by Microwave Radiation: A Comparative Study. Polymers (Basel) 2021; 14:57. [PMID: 35012081 PMCID: PMC8747084 DOI: 10.3390/polym14010057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
A systematic study is presented to explore the NH4CN polymerization induced by microwave (MW) radiation, keeping in mind the recent growing interest in these polymers in material science. Thus, a first approach through two series, varying the reaction times and the temperatures between 130 and 205 °C, was conducted. As a relevant outcome, using particular reaction conditions, polymer conversions similar to those obtained by means of conventional thermal methods were achieved, with the advantage of a very significant reduction of the reaction times. The structural properties of the end products were evaluated using compositional data, spectroscopic measurements, simultaneous thermal analysis (STA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As a result, based on the principal component analysis (PCA) from the main experimental results collected, practically only the crystallographic features and the morphologies in the nanoscale were affected by the MW-driven polymerization conditions with respect to those obtained by classical syntheses. Therefore, MW radiation allows us to tune the morphology, size and shape of the particles from the bidimensional C=N networks which are characteristic of the NH4CN polymers by an easy, fast, low-cost and green-solvent production. These new insights make these macromolecular systems attractive for exploration in current soft-matter science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Pérez-Fernández
- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (C.P.-F.); (E.G.-T.); (E.M.-M.)
| | - Pilar Valles
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial “Esteban Terradas” (INTA), Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (P.V.); (J.L.d.l.F.)
| | - Elena González-Toril
- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (C.P.-F.); (E.G.-T.); (E.M.-M.)
| | - Eva Mateo-Martí
- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (C.P.-F.); (E.G.-T.); (E.M.-M.)
| | - José Luis de la Fuente
- Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial “Esteban Terradas” (INTA), Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (P.V.); (J.L.d.l.F.)
| | - Marta Ruiz-Bermejo
- Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), Departamento de Evolución Molecular, Ctra. Torrejón-Ajalvir, km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain; (C.P.-F.); (E.G.-T.); (E.M.-M.)
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17
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Sandström H, Rahm M. The Beginning of HCN Polymerization: Iminoacetonitrile Formation and Its Implications in Astrochemical Environments. ACS EARTH & SPACE CHEMISTRY 2021; 5:2152-2159. [PMID: 34476321 PMCID: PMC8397470 DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is known to react with complex organic materials and is a key reagent in the formation of various prebiotic building blocks, including amino acids and nucleobases. Here, we explore the possible first step in several such processes, the dimerization of HCN into iminoacetonitrile. Our study combines steered ab initio molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry to evaluate the kinetics and thermodynamics of base-catalyzed dimerization of HCN in the liquid state. Simulations predict a formation mechanism of iminoacetonitrile that is consistent with experimentally observed time scales for HCN polymerization, suggesting that HCN dimerization may be the rate-determining step in the assembly of more complex reaction products. The predicted kinetics permits for iminoacetonitrile formation in a host of astrochemical environments, including on the early Earth, on periodically heated subsurfaces of comets, and following heating events on colder bodies, such as Saturn's moon Titan.
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18
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Grundke C, Kong C, Kampf CJ, Gupton BF, McQuade DT, Opatz T. Programmed Formation of HCN Oligomers through Organosulfur Catalysis. J Org Chem 2021; 86:10320-10329. [PMID: 34251206 DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.1c01023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
An efficient, inexpensive, and reliable synthesis of diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN, 1) is described starting from readily available acetone cyanohydrin as the source of hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Diaminomaleonitrile (DAMN) is known to be an important intermediate in heterocyclic and medicinal chemistry as well as being a possible precursor for the origin of life's hypothesis within prebiotic chemistry. The mechanism of its formation through organosulfur catalysis has been investigated by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) using two newly synthesized cationic "marker" molecules as a tool that allows for sensitive detection. As a result, the proposed mechanism of a thiocyanate-mediated synthesis of the HCN tetramer DAMN starting from organic disulfides was confirmed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Grundke
- Department of Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Caleb Kong
- Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23220, United States
| | - Christopher J Kampf
- Department of Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - B Frank Gupton
- Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23220, United States
| | - D Tyler McQuade
- Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23220, United States
| | - Till Opatz
- Department of Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128 Mainz, Germany
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19
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NMR Properties of the Cyanide Anion, a Quasisymmetric Two-Faced Hydrogen Bonding Acceptor. Symmetry (Basel) 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/sym13071298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The isotopically enriched cyanide anion, (13C≡15N)−, has a great potential as the NMR probe of non-covalent interactions. However, hydrogen cyanide is highly toxic and can decompose explosively. It is therefore desirable to be able to theoretically estimate any valuable results of certain experiments in advance in order to carry out experimental studies only for the most suitable molecular systems. We report the effect of hydrogen bonding on NMR properties of 15N≡13CH···X and 13C≡15NH···X hydrogen bonding complexes in solution, where X = 19F, 15N, and O=31P, calculated at the ωB97XD/def2tzvp and the polarizable continuum model (PCM) approximations. In many cases, the isotropic 13C and 15N chemical shieldings of the cyanide anion are not the most informative NMR properties of such complexes. Instead, the anisotropy of these chemical shieldings and the values of scalar coupling constants, including those across hydrogen bonds, can be used to characterize the geometry of such complexes in solids and solutions. 1J(15N13C) strongly correlates with the length of the N≡C bond.
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