The prebiotic pathway from P-bearing iron meteorites to phosphates by DFT modeling

TL;DR

This study uses DFT modeling to investigate how phosphorus from meteorites could have transformed into bioavailable phosphates on early Earth, revealing reaction timescales relevant to prebiotic chemistry.

Contribution

It provides a detailed computational analysis of water corrosion on Schreibersite, elucidating the pathway from meteorite phosphorus to prebiotic phosphates, which was previously not well understood.

Findings

Reaction occurs within a few hours at 350 K

Water corrosion leads to P-oxygenated compounds

Supports meteorite-origin hypothesis for Earth's phosphorus

Abstract

Among the biogenic macroelements, phosphorus is the one bringing the most fascinating and unsolved mysteries for what concern its prebiotic history. It possibly landed on Earth as a metal phosphide (Schreibersite, (Fe,Ni)3P), throughout the Heavy Meteor Bombardment during the Archean Era. Its subsequent corrosion by water led to P-oxygenated compounds, which is the subject of this kinetic computational study, thus complementing our previous thermodynamic characterization. The reaction was studied at periodic DFT level, simulating the water corrosion reaction on the reactive Fe2NiP Schreibersite (001)2 surface. Results show that the timescale of the reaction at 350 K is of few hours.