Iron and rocky meteorites: a reservoir of prebiotic bricks of life

Asteroids are the most ancient bodies of a planetary system, mostly formed during the accretion of the protoplanetary disk. They can be made of either rocky and metallic materials, and they are sources of important species which are fundamental for the emergence of life on planets. In our history, during the heavy late bombardment (4.0−3.8 Gya ago), a large quantity of meteorites (the asteroids that impact a planet) fall onto the earth crust, bringing several interstellar complex organic molecules, as well as other species (like phosphorus), produced during the early stages of the solar system formation.1 In recent years we have carried out periodic quantum mechanical simulations on forsterite (Mg2SiO4) and schreibersite (Fe2NiP) as archetype of rocky and iron meteorites, respectively. In particular, the former was studied through a synergistic interaction between experiments (infrared spectroscopy and high-mass resolution spectrometry) and atomistic simulations, elucidating the reactivity of HCN towards its polymerization, up to the formation of adenine, one of the DNA components.2,3 The latter system is a source of reactive phosphorus that, from the interaction with water, undergoes corrosion with the formation of oxygenated phosphorus compounds. In our work, we demonstrated the favorable exergonic formation of phosphates and, moreover, that such phosphates are in turn activated by the surface to phosphorylate other molecules, like sugars and nucleobases.4,5,6[1] M. Pasek, D. Lauretta, Origins Life Evol. Biospheres 2008, 38, 5−21[2] N. Bancone, S. Pantaleone, P. Ugliengo, A. Rimola, M. Corno, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2023, 25, 26797-26812[3] R. Santalucia, M. Pazzi, F. Bonino, M. Signorile, D. Scarano, P. Ugliengo, G. Spoto, L. Mino, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2022, 24, 7224-7230[4] S. Pantaleone, M. Corno, A. Rimola, N. Balucani, P. Ugliengo, ACS Earth Space Chem.  2021, 5, 7, 1741–1751[5] S. Pantaleone, M. Corno, A. Rimola, N. Balucani, P. Ugliengo, J. Phys. Chem. C 2022, 126, 4, 2243–2252[6] S. Pantaleone, M. Corno, A. Rimola, N. Balucani, P. Ugliengo, ACS Earth Space Chem. 2023, 7, 10, 2050–2