Chemical reduction of phosphate on the primitive earth
Chemical reduction of phosphate on the primitive earth
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DOI：
10.1023/a:1006622900660
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发表时间：
1999-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Schwartz, AW
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Glindemann, D;de Graaf, RM;Schwartz, AW
如果磷在生命起源中发挥了作用，那么首先必须有一些浓缩微摩尔水平磷酸盐（源自磷酸钙矿物磷灰石）的方法。在这里，我们展示了在模型益生元大气中模拟的（微型）闪电放电（仅包括最低限度的还原）会减少正磷酸盐（包括磷灰石），从而产生大量的亚磷酸盐。与火山喷发相关的放电可能为这一过程提供了特别合适的环境。相对可溶且具有反应性的亚磷酸盐的生产可能提供了第一个磷原子被纳入（前）生物系统的途径。
If phosphorus played a role in the origin of life, some means of concentrating micromolar levels of phosphate (derived from the calcium phosphate mineral apatite), must first have been available. Here we show that simulated (mini)lightning discharges in model prebiotic atmospheres, including only minimally reducing ones, reduce orthophosphates, including apatite, to produce substantial yields of phosphite. Electrical discharges associated with volcanic eruptions could have provided a particularly suitable environment for this process. Production of relatively soluble and reactive phosphite salts could have supplied a pathway by which the first phosphorus atoms were incorporated into (pre)biological systems.