What molecules can store energy and drive otherwise energy requiring reactions before the first cells and for the first cells?

During his group's studies of glycolysis, Efraim Racker discovered that the central ATP forming step of glycolysis occurred via the formation of an intra protein thioester - could thioesters have preceded ATP during biological evolution?  Could thioesters have existed as reservoirs of molecular energy before the formation of the first cells? 

We use approaches blending aqueous organic chemistry, electrochemistry, and hydrothermal vent simulations to ask fundamental questions about thioesters: in which abiotic processes are they formed? And where could all the required thiols have come from, anyway?

Techniques used: 

cyclic voltametry ・stable isotope labeling ・NMR ・ UPLC-MS/MS ・synchotron radiation spectroscopy ・Raman spectroscopy...