Biol. Bull. 219: 1-6. (August 2010)
© 2010 Marine Biological Laboratory
Ligand Field Theory and the Origin of Life as an Emergent Feature of the Periodic Table of Elements
Harold J. Morowitz1,*, Vijayasarathy Srinivasan1 and Eric Smith2
1 Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
2 Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: morowitz@gmu.edu
The assumption that all biological catalysts are either proteins or ribozymes leads to an outstanding enigma of biogenesis—how to determine the synthetic pathways to the monomers for the efficient formation of catalytic macromolecules in the absence of any such macromolecules. The last 60 years have witnessed chemists developing an understanding of organocatalysis and ligand field theory, both of which give demonstrable low-molecular-weight catalysts. We assume that transition-metal–ligand complexes are likely to have occurred in the deep ocean trenches by the combination of naturally occurring oceanic metals and ligands synthesized from the emergent CO2, H2, NH3, H2S, and H3PO4. We are now in a position to investigate experimentally the metal-ligand complexes, their catalytic function, and the reaction networks that could have played a role in the development of metabolism and life itself.
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