Simulated hydrothermal vents of prebiotic relevance
What minerals form at hadean hydrothermal vents? Are they catalytic? Is it possible to use a pH gradient between inside and outside to do chemical "work"?
What minerals form at hadean hydrothermal vents? Are they catalytic? Is it possible to use a pH gradient between inside and outside to do chemical "work"?
In 1989 Michael Russell began growing simulated hydrothermal vent chimneys in the laboratory, having recognized that relatively cool, sulfidic, and off axis hydrothermal vents would have existed in the earliest oceans. Basic on the inside, and neutral or mildly acidic on the outside like a cell is today, Russell hypothesized that the initial disequilibria to organize prebiotic chemistry could be found here. Can it? let's try and see...
In 1989 Michael Russell began growing simulated hydrothermal vent chimneys in the laboratory, having recognized that relatively cool, sulfidic, and off axis hydrothermal vents would have existed in the earliest oceans. Basic on the inside, and neutral or mildly acidic on the outside like a cell is today, Russell hypothesized that the initial disequilibria to organize prebiotic chemistry could be found here. Can it? let's try and see...
Techniques used:
Techniques used:
Fluidics ・ NMR ・ UPLC-MS/MS ・synchotron radiation spectroscopy ・Raman spectroscopy ・Electron microscopy
Fluidics ・ NMR ・ UPLC-MS/MS ・synchotron radiation spectroscopy ・Raman spectroscopy ・Electron microscopy
some previous works in this area:
some previous works in this area:
SE McGlynn, I Kanik, MJ Russell, SE McGlynn, I Kanik, MJ Russell
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
Iron-sulfide-bearing chimneys as potential catalytic energy traps at life's emergence
RE Mielke, KJ Robinson, LM White, SE McGlynn, K McEachern, R Bhartia, ...
Astrobiology 11 (10), 933-950
Design, fabrication, and test of a hydrothermal reactor for origin-of-life experiments
RE Mielke, MJ Russell, PR Wilson, SE McGlynn, M Coleman, R Kidd, ...
Astrobiology 10 (8), 799-810