Electron configuration and catalytic logic: a physicochemical framework for the inorganic origins of life—part II: electron continuity and beyond

Abstract Building on part I, which traced diverse catalytic behaviours, including redox and electron-transfer–coupled hydrolytic processes, to the solid-state dynamics of inorganic nanomaterials, this perspective examines how small organic molecules and peptides stabilize, tune and extend early inorganic catalysts, setting the stage for protein-based metabolic control. Ligand interactions enhance nanozyme activity, introduce environmental sensitivity and encode primitive regulatory logic—transforming mineral scaffolds into platforms for reaction specificity and information processing. These processes represent the first expression of the inorganic code: the redox and geometric logic embedded in transition-metal lattices, where d-orbital electron configurations direct electron flow before genetic polymers arose. Life's evolution followed a structure-first, three-dimensional trajectory—from mineral lattices that organized charge transport to peptide folds that refined and regulated it. Sustaining such networks required separation—spatial, energetic, and temporal—to maintain reactivity far from equilibrium. From ligand-stabilized minerals to feedback-regulated systems, early peptides integrated environmental cues with biocatalytic function, refining nascent metabolic circuits. Life thus emerges as a continuous architecture of charge flow linking mineral chemistry to biological metabolism.