ArticleOrigins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life1996
Was ferrocyanide a prebiotic reagent?
Article in Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, 1996. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Shadow of a Shadow: Ferrocyanide and Nitroprusside as Sunscreens for Photosensitive Prebiotic Molecules.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Magmatic immiscibility provides phosphate for prebiotic chemistry.Science advances · 2025Article
- The Origin of the Feedstock Molecules for Life on the Hadean Earth.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2025Article
- Role of metal(ii) hexacyanocobaltate(iii) surface chemistry for prebiotic peptides synthesis.RSC advances · 2025Article
- Favorable Environments for the Formation of Ferrocyanide, a Potentially Critical Reagent for Origins of Life.ACS earth & space chemistry · 2024Article
- Selective amide bond formation in redox-active coacervate protocells.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Aquatic Ferrous Solutions of Prebiotic Mineral Salts as Strong UV Protectants and Possible Loci of Life Origin.Astrobiology · 2023Article
- Carbon dioxide photoreduction in prebiotic environments.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2022Review
- A Lizardite-HCN Interaction Leading the Increasing of Molecular Complexity in an Alkaline Hydrothermal Scenario: Implications for Origin of Life Studies.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Illuminating Life's Origins: UV Photochemistry in Abiotic Synthesis of Biomolecules.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2021Review
- Prebiotic Chemistry that Could NotLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Article
- Hydroxymethanesulfonate from Volcanic Sulfur Dioxide: A "Mineral" Reservoir for Formaldehyde and Other Simple Carbohydrates in Prebiotic Chemistry.Astrobiology · 2019Article
- A Light-Releasable Potentially Prebiotic Nucleotide Activating Agent.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2018Article
- Prebiotic synthesis of phosphoenol pyruvate by α-phosphorylation-controlled triose glycolysis.Nature chemistry · 2017Article
- Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism.Nature chemistry · 2015Article
- Role of ferrocyanides in the prebiotic synthesis of α-amino acids.Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life · 2013Article
- Synthesis of aldehydic ribonucleotide and amino acid precursors by photoredox chemistry.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2013Article
- Possible role of metal(II) octacyanomolybdate(IV) in chemical evolution: interaction with ribose nucleotides.Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life · 2013Article
- Prebiotic synthesis of simple sugars by photoredox systems chemistry.Nature chemistry · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Hydrogen cyanide is the starting material for a diverse array of prebiotic syntheses, including those of amino acids and purines. Hydrogen cyanide also reacts with ferrous ions to give ferrocyanide, and so it is possible that ferrocyanide was common in the early ocean. This can only be true if the hydrogen cyanide concentration was high enough and the rate of reaction of cyanide with ferrous ions was fast enough. We show experimentally that the rate of formation of ferrocyanide is rapid even at low concentrations of hydrogen cyanide in the pH range 6-8, and therefore an equilibrium calculation is valid. The equilibrium concentrations of ferrocyanide are calculated as a function of hydrogen cyanide concentration, pH and temperature. The steady state concentration of hydrogen cyanide depends on the rate of synthesis by electric discharges and ultraviolet light and the rate of hydrolysis, which depends on pH and temperature. Our conclusions show that ferrocyanide was a major species in the prebiotic ocean only at the highest production rates of hydrogen cyanide in a strongly reducing atmosphere and at temperatures of 0 degrees C or less, although small amounts would have been present at lower hydrogen cyanide production rates. The prebiotic application of ferrocyanide as a source of hydrated electrons, as a photochemical replication process, and in semi-permeable membranes is discussed.
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