Geochemical Settings at an Alkaline Hydrothermal Vent Stabilized Ribose: Evidence from Chemical Garden and Other Simulation Experiments

Raksha, Umesh and Nanishankar, V. Harohally (2025) Geochemical Settings at an Alkaline Hydrothermal Vent Stabilized Ribose: Evidence from Chemical Garden and Other Simulation Experiments. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 9. pp. 1871-1880.

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Abstract

The origin of life is an unsolved mystery. The discovery of a hydrothermal vent starting from black smoke to a lost city has sparked a spotlight on a hydrothermal vent as the place of origin of life having all the prerequisite settings including a proton gradient, thermal energy, mineral catalysts, and simple constituent molecules for the emergence of life. On the other hand, the RNA world hypothesis, which is an offshoot of the primordial soup theory, presupposes ribose availability and its stability as the primary milestone for abiotic synthesis of RNA. We demonstrate through chemical garden and other simulation experiments stabilization of ribose under a geochemical setting of deep ocean hydrothermal vents occurring via acidic ocean water interaction with brucite and calcite chimneys. The early Earth scenario, wherein boric acid-containing seawater interacts with hydrothermal vent materials such as CaCO3, Mg(OH)2, and Ca(OH)2 along with ribose, has been modeled utilizing chemical garden and prebiotic simulation experiments (NMR scale as well as synthetic scale). The performed experiments reveal formation of metal borate, and its subsequent role in stabilization of ribose is demonstrated via concrete evidence consisting of FT-IR, 1H NMR, and 11B NMR spectra.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ribose, boric acid, borate complex stability, hydrothermal vent, NMR titration
Subjects:	500 Natural Sciences and Mathematics > 04 Chemistry and Allied Sciences > 24 Organic Chemistry
Divisions:	Plantation Products Spices and Flavour Technology
Depositing User:	Somashekar K S
Date Deposited:	28 Nov 2025 11:02
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2025 11:02
URI:	http://ir.cftri.res.in/id/eprint/20127

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