Issue 30, 2016

The evolution of the surface of the mineral schreibersite in prebiotic chemistry

Abstract

We present a study of the reactions of the meteoritic mineral schreibersite (Fe,Ni)3P, focusing primarily on surface chemistry and prebiotic phosphorylation. In this work, a synthetic analogue of the mineral was synthesized by mixing stoichiometric proportions of elemental iron, nickel and phosphorus and heating in a tube furnace at 820 °C for approximately 235 hours under argon or under vacuum, a modification of the method of Skála and Drábek (2002). Once synthesized, the schreibersite was characterized to confirm the identity of the product as well as to elucidate the oxidation processes affecting the surface. In addition to characterization of the solid product, this schreibersite was reacted with water or with organic solutes in a choline chloride–urea deep eutectic mixture, to constrain potential prebiotic products. Major inorganic solutes produced by reaction of water include orthophosphate, phosphite, pyrophosphate and hypophosphate consistent with prior work on Fe3P corrosion. Additionally, schreibersite corrodes in water and dries down to form a deep eutectic solution, generating phosphorylated products, in this case phosphocholine, using this synthesized schreibersite.

Graphical abstract: The evolution of the surface of the mineral schreibersite in prebiotic chemistry

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 ربيع الثاني 1437
Accepted
26 رجب 1437
First published
27 رجب 1437

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016,18, 20160-20167

The evolution of the surface of the mineral schreibersite in prebiotic chemistry

N. L. La Cruz, D. Qasim, H. Abbott-Lyon, C. Pirim, A. D. McKee, T. Orlando, M. Gull, D. Lindsay and M. A. Pasek, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 20160 DOI: 10.1039/C6CP00836D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements