Geisberger Thomas, Sobotta Jessica, Eisenreich Wolfgang, Huber Claudia
Lehrstuhl für Biochemie, Department Chemie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstraße 4, 85748 Garching, Germany.
Life (Basel). 2021 Feb 16;11(2):149. doi: 10.3390/life11020149.
Thiophene was detected on Mars during the Curiosity mission in 2018. The compound was even suggested as a biomarker due to its possible origin from diagenesis or pyrolysis of biological material. In the laboratory, thiophene can be synthesized at 400 °C by reacting acetylene and hydrogen sulfide on alumina. We here show that thiophene and thiophene derivatives are also formed abiotically from acetylene and transition metal sulfides such as NiS, CoS and FeS under simulated volcanic, hydrothermal conditions on Early Earth. Exactly the same conditions were reported earlier to have yielded a plethora of organic molecules including fatty acids and other components of extant metabolism. It is therefore tempting to suggest that thiophenes from abiotic formation could indicate sites and conditions well-suited for the evolution of metabolism and potentially for the origin-of-life on extraterrestrial planets.
2018年“好奇号”任务期间在火星上检测到了噻吩。由于该化合物可能源于生物物质的成岩作用或热解作用，甚至有人认为它是一种生物标志物。在实验室中，通过乙炔和硫化氢在氧化铝上反应，可在400°C下合成噻吩。我们在此表明，在早期地球模拟火山、热液条件下，乙炔与过渡金属硫化物（如硫化镍、硫化钴和硫化铁）也能非生物地形成噻吩及其衍生物。此前有报道称，正是相同的条件产生了大量有机分子，包括脂肪酸和现存新陈代谢的其他成分。因此，很容易推测非生物形成的噻吩可能表明了适合新陈代谢演化以及外星行星上潜在生命起源的地点和条件。
