Supplementary material
Table S1. Organic synthesis reactions at low temperatures. Note: the formation of uracil from pyrimidine under UV light was tested
under conditions similar to those on the moon Titan.
reaction
T [K]
P [atm]
pH
Reactants
Product
Catalyst
Time
References
Production of amino acids
from tholins
253/293
1
nr
tholins, NH4OH
asparagine, glutamine, histidine
none
1 yr
(Neish et
al., 2010)
Production of adenine and
amino acids from NH4CN
195/253
1
9.2
NH4CN
adenine, glycine, various other
amino acids
none
25 yr
Peptides from amino acids
253
1
nr
B-glutamic acid,
EDAC
peptides
none
48 hours
UV mediated conversion of
pyrimidine to uracil
20-30
10^-11
nr
H2O, pyrimidine
uracil
none
22-23 hours
Nucleic acids from uridine
salts
255
1
6-8
uridine 5'monophosphate
imidazolide
oligouridylates
Mg2+, Pb2+
31 days
(Kanavarioti
et al., 2001)
Pyrimidines and purines
from HCN
195
1
nr
HCN and NH3
various purines and pyrimidines,
to include adenine, guanine,
uracil
none
27 yr
(Miyakawa
et al., 2002)
1
(Levy et al.,
2000)
(Liu &
Orgel,
1997)
(Nuevo et
al., 2009)
Table S2. Selected mineral-catalyzed organic synthesis reactions, plotted in Figure 8 with colors indicated in column 1. nr = not
reported.
Reaction
T[C]
P [atm]
Ph
Reactants
Selected
products
Mineral reactant/catalyst
time
References
carbon chain formation and
carbon fixation
(hydroxycarboxylation)
250
494, 987,
1974
nr
iron sulfide,
alkyl(nonyl)thiol,
formic acid
pyruvate C3H4O3
pyrite (Fe2S)
6 hours
(Cody et al.,
2000)
[grouped as green]
250
1974
nr
iron sulfide,
alkyl(nonyl)thiol,
formic acid
see Table 2
within reference
nicek, cobalt, iron, copper,
zinc sulfides
6 hours
(Cody et al.,
2004)
400
494
5
formic acid, NiO,
FeS, Hcl
C2 and C3
alkanes
(Fe2Ni7)S8
3 days
(Fu et al.,
2008)
2 – 10
methly thiol
(CH3SH), CO
Activated
thioester
(CH3COSCH3),
hydrolyzes to
acetate
precipitated nickel and iron
sulfide NiS FeS
7days
(Huber &
Wächtershäus
er, 1997)
methane, thermal
decomposition
ethane and
propane
NiFe-alloy, olivine, hematite
and magnetite
250 to >6000
hours
(McCollom &
Seewald,
2003)
100
1
175-260
345
nr
H2 and C13
labeled CO2,
HCO3-, HCOOH
390
395
8.8; 4.8
C13 labeled CO2,
HCO3-
ethane, propane
FeCr2O4 and magnetite;
just magnetite
774, 1062
hours
(Foustoukos
& Seyfried,
2004)
250
321
Nr
formic acid,
powdered Fe
hydrocarbons
Magnetite
44hours
(McCollom &
Seewald,
2006)
dinitrogen to ammonia in
dilute H2S, FeS catalyst
120
49
6.9 – 7.5
N2, H2S
NH3
FeS
Every 15 min,
2-7 days/24
hours
(Schoonen,
Xu, Y.)
[grouped as red]
80
1
3–4
N2, H2S
NH3
FeS
7 days
(Dörr et al.,
2003)
300,
500,700,
900
987-3948
nr
N2, formic acid;
NO20; NO3-
NH3
Fe3O4; FeS
2 min, or 24
hours
(Brandes et
al., 1998)
2
montmorillonite catalyzed
nucleotide polymerization
25
1
8
[grouped as yellow]
25
1
8
activated
mononucleotides
5'phosphorimidazolid
e of adenosine and
uridine
5'phosphorimidazolid
e of nucleosides
(ImpNs)
5'phosphorimidazolid
e of nucleosides
(ImpNs)
RNA-like
oligomers: 9-10
monomer units
Montmorillionite+alkyl
ammonium cations
3-7 days
(Ertem et al.,
2010)
RNA-like timer
isomers
Na+-montmorillionite
7 days
(Ertem et al.,
2007)
Na+-montmorillionite
3-7 days
(Ertem, 2004)
Montmorillonite
7 days
(Ertem et al.,
2008)
Na+-montmorillionite
3-4 days
(Ferris et al.,
1990)
Na+-montmorillionite
3 days
(Ferris &
Ertem, 1992)
Na+-montmorillionite
3-7 days
(Ferris &
Ertem, 1993)
RNA-like
oligomers: up to
14 monomer units
in length
oligomers with
similar structures
to short RNA
fragments
25
1
6.8, 7.5, 8
25
1
8
25
1
8
2'-d-5'-GMP, 2'-d5'-AMP, 2'-d-5'CMP, 2'-d-5'-TMP,
25
1
8
phosphorimidazolid
e of adenosine
(ImpA)
25
1
8
phosphorimidazolid
e of adenosine
(ImpA)
amino acid polymerization
by mineral surfaces
100
1
4.5
FeS, H2S,
mercaptoacetic
acid, aniline,
tyrosine
acetylamides
pyrite formation
2 days, 4
days
(Keller et al.,
1994)
[grouped as purple]
80
1
nr
glycine, L-alanine
peptide dimers
activated alumina (neutral,
acidic, weakly acidic,
basic), kaolinite
1-14 days
(Bujdak &
Rode, 2001)
85
1
nr
glycine, alanine,
leucine, valine,
proline
dipeptides, cyclic
anhydrides
activated alumina
3 hours
(Bujdak &
Rode, 2001;
Bujdak &
Rode, 2003)
nr
1
nr
gluatamic acid,
aspartic acid, Ophospho-L-serine
45-unit oligomers
hydroxylapatitie, illite
24 hours
(Hill et al.,
1998)
3
dinucleotides
oligomers up to
10 nucleotides in
length
oligomers of
adenylic acid up
to 11 nucleotides
in length
50-500
1
2,4,6,7,8,9
,10
glycine, lysine,
glutamic acid,
leucine, alanine
peptides
SiO2, TiO2
nr
(Lambert,
2008)
oligopeptides of
B-glutamic acid,
tripeptide glu3,
oligoarginines
hydroxylapatite, Fe2S, illite,
kaolinite, montmorillonite
3.5, 6, 24
hours
(Liu & Orgel,
1998)
tetraglycine,
hexaglycine
Mg
10 days
(Yamagata &
Inomata,
1997).
calcite, hematite,
montmorillonite, pyrite,
rutile, amorphous silica
30, 60, 90,
120 hours
(MarshallBowman et
al., 2010)
pyrite (Fe2S)
up tp 200
hours
(Cohn et al.,
2004)
montmorillionite,
2 hours
(Baldwin et
al., 1995)
25
1
6, 8
1-ethyl-3-(3dimethylaminoprop
yl) carbodiimide,
aspartic acid, Bglutamic acid,
arginine
38
1
4,5,6,7,8
glycylglycine,
trimetaphosphate,
MgCl2
degradation by mineral
surfaces
25, 50,
70C
1
8.1
glycine, diglycine,
diketopiperazine,
triglycine
[grouped as blue]
30
1
nr
RNA, lipids
25
1
7.2
Sugar-phosphate
ester (p-nitrophenyl
phosphate)
4
polymer
degradation and
hydrolysis
products
biopolymer
decomposition
products
hydrolysis
products
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