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Eutectic Phase in Water‐Ice: A Self‐Assembled Environment Conducive to Metal‐Catalyzed Non‐Enzymatic RNA Polymerization
Author(s) -
Monnard PierreAlain,
Ziock Hans
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
chemistry and biodiversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1612-1880
pISSN - 1612-1872
DOI - 10.1002/cbdv.200890141
Subject(s) - eutectic system , polymerization , chemistry , monomer , rna , catalysis , polymer , aqueous solution , rna world hypothesis , aqueous medium , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , biochemistry , alloy , engineering , gene , ribozyme
Information and catalytic polymers play an essential role in contemporary cellular life, and their emergence must have been crucial during the complex processes that led to the assembly of the first living systems. Polymerization reactions producing these molecules would have had to occur in aqueous medium, which is known to disfavor such reactions. Thus, it was proposed early on that these polymerizations had to be supported by particular environments, such as mineral surfaces and eutectic phases in water‐ice, which would have led to the concentration of the monomers out of the bulk aqueous medium and their condensation. This review presents the work conducted to understand how the eutectic phases in water‐ice might have promoted RNA polymerization, thereby presumably contributing to the emergence of the ancient information and catalytic system envisioned by the ‘RNA‐World’ hypothesis.