One of the greatest challenges that origin-of-life researchers face is the “phosphorus problem” – how phosphorylation, a chemical process that enables the existence of life, occurred on early Earth. The Abbott-Lyon Laboratory uses polarization-modulation – infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) in an attempt to solve this mystery by analyzing phosphorylation at the liquid-solid interface of solutions of prebiotically relevant molecules and the reduced phosphorus meteoric source schreibersite. It is unknown whether the phosphorylation of these molecules by schreibersite happens on the surface of the schreibersite or in solution, but by using PM-IRRAS to observe the surface of the schreibersite as it corrodes and subsequently phosphorylates molecules in a custom-built teflon liquid-solid cell, we are able to see which molecules or molecular fragments chemisorb to the schreibersite’s surface as the reaction proceeds. These adsorbed molecules could be precursors or products of radical reactions, giving us clues as to whether radical intermediates are produced by the surface and/or the role of the schreibersite’s surface in the mechanism of phosphorylation.

Analyzing phosphorylation of prebiotic molecules by schreibersite with polarization-modulation: Infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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