Stereoselective reactions on the primordial Earth

• Applicant: Dr. Luca Legnani
• Subject Area: Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2019 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422044447

Origin of Life studies aim to determine how life arose, starting from simple organic molecules and following gradual steps of increasing complexity. In this context, research on the Origin of Homochirality deals with the investigation of prebiotical reactions that, starting from an asymmetric world, established a living world dominated by symmetric biomolecules, such as L-amino acids and D-sugars. Although in recent years numerous reports have described possible models for the emergence of chiral molecules, significant limitations remain to be addressed. For example, some reactions occur under conditions that are not prebiotically plausible and some systems are limited to narrow classes of biomolecule derivatives. This proposal describes underexplored models that might have contributed to the emergence of enantioenriched biomolecules starting from minute imbalances in chirality. The first section discusses the mechanistic studies on the enantioselective Strecker synthesis of amino acids. The following two sections deal with the stereoselective formation of amino acids and of short peptides, through Ugi- and Ritter-type reactivities. These models, that involve prebiotically plausible reaction conditions, will be of extreme importance to fully understand the interactions that occurred on the primordial Earth between the different classes of biomolecules. This interdisciplinary research area, beyond the deep implications in philosophy of science, can have a major impact on the design of new technologies, based on self-replicative and self-assembly systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professorin Donna G. Blackmond, Ph.D.