Bezaly Orr Rose, Petrignani Annemieke, King Helen E
Molecular Photonics, Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH The Netherlands.
Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, Utrecht, 3584 CB The Netherlands.
Commun Earth Environ. 2025;6(1):435. doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02417-8. Epub 2025 Jun 5.
Clay surfaces have been invoked as crucial components in the origin of life processes due to their ability to concentrate organics and abiotically catalyse (bio)polymer production. Still, the importance of the mutual nature of organo-clay interactions and the effects of off-world organics in this interplay is a largely unexplored realm. We demonstrate a previously unrecognised phenomenon that occurs upon the transient interaction of montmorillonite clay with the meteorite-common, non-proteinogenic -aminobutyric acid. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction show that an irreversible structural change is induced by the off-world species. A distinct partial clay exfoliation is correlated with the formation of nanoscale cavities in the mid-layers of the original structure, observable using transmission electron microscopy. This work demonstrates that an exogenous amino acid can alter clay and introduce 3D confined nano-environments, which may facilitate compartmentalisation in prebiotic times. Our findings also highlight new sustainable nanocomposite synthesis routes applicable in environmental/materials sciences.
由于黏土表面能够浓缩有机物并非生物催化（生物）聚合物的生成，因此被认为是生命过程起源中的关键成分。然而，有机-黏土相互作用的相互性质以及外星有机物在这种相互作用中的影响在很大程度上仍是未被探索的领域。我们展示了一种先前未被认识到的现象，该现象发生在蒙脱石黏土与陨石中常见的非蛋白质ogenicγ-氨基丁酸的短暂相互作用过程中。衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱和X射线衍射表明，外星物质会引发不可逆的结构变化。一种明显的部分黏土剥离与原始结构中层纳米级空洞的形成相关，这可以通过透射电子显微镜观察到。这项工作表明，一种外源氨基酸可以改变黏土并引入三维受限纳米环境，这可能在生命起源前的时期促进区室化。我们的研究结果还突出了适用于环境/材料科学的新的可持续纳米复合材料合成路线。
