ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2006
Photocatalysis and the origin of life: synthesis of nucleoside bases from formamide on TiO2(001) single surfaces.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- The role of minerals in prebiotic evolution: Implications for identifying worlds with the potential for life's origin.Fundamental research · 2026Review
- Redox chemistry of early Earth and the origin of life.Communications chemistry · 2026Review
- Origin of the RNA World in Cold Hadean Geothermal Fields Enriched in Zinc and Potassium: Abiogenesis as a Positive Fallout from the Moon-Forming Impact?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Anticancer potential and structure activity studies of purine and pyrimidine derivatives: an updated review.Molecular diversity · 2025Review
- On the Origin of Life on Earth: The Nanozymes Hypothesis, and More.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
- Light-Assisted Formation of Nucleosides and Nucleotides from Formamide in the Presence of Cerium Phosphate.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Plant Photocatalysts: Photoinduced Oxidation and Reduction Abilities of Plant Leaf Ashes under Solar Light.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Tracing the Primordial Chemical Life of Glycine: A Review from Quantum Chemical Simulations.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Prebiotic Organic Chemistry of Formamide and the Origin of Life in Planetary Conditions: What We Know and What Is the Future.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Prebiotic Soup Components Trapped in Montmorillonite Nanoclay Form New Molecules: Car-Parrinello Ab Initio Simulations.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Formamide Adsorption at the Amorphous Silica Surface: A Combined Experimental and Computational Approach.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- Geochemical constraints on the Hadean environment from mineral fingerprints of prokaryotes.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- High-energy chemistry of formamide: a unified mechanism of nucleobase formation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2015Article
- Adsorption and Self-Assembly of Large Polycyclic Molecules on the Surfaces of TiO2 Single Crystals.International journal of molecular sciences · 2013Article
- Activation Energy Calculations for Formamide-TiO2 and Formamide-Pt Interactions in the Presence of Water.The open biochemistry journal · 2013Article
- Origin of first cells at terrestrial, anoxic geothermal fields.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2012Article
- May cyclic nucleotides be a source for abiotic RNA synthesis?Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life · 2011Article
- On the origin of life in the zinc world: 1. Photosynthesizing, porous edifices built of hydrothermally precipitated zinc sulfide as cradles of life on Earth.Biology direct · 2009Article
- On the origin of life in the zinc world. 2. Validation of the hypothesis on the photosynthesizing zinc sulfide edifices as cradles of life on Earth.Biology direct · 2009Article
- A possible path to the RNA world: enantioselective and diastereoselective purification of ribose.Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere : the journal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life · 2007Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
We report the conversion of a large fraction of formamide (NH(2)CHO) to high-molecular-weight compounds attributed to nucleoside bases on the surface of a TiO(2) (001) single crystal in ultra-high vacuum conditions. If true, we present previously unreported evidence for making biologically relevant molecules from a C1 compound on any single crystal surface in high vacuum and in dry conditions. An UV light of 3.2 eV was necessary to make the reaction. This UV light excites the semiconductor surface but not directly the adsorbed formamide molecules or the reaction products. There thus is no need to use high energy in the form of photons or electrical discharge to make the carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bonds necessary for life. Consequently, the reaction products may accumulate with time and may not be subject to decomposition by the excitation source. The formation of these molecules, by surface reaction of formamide, is proof that some minerals in the form of oxide semiconductors are active materials for making high-molecular-weight organic molecules that may have acted as precursors for biological compounds required for life in the universe.
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