According to a new study in the journal Chemical Communications, alkaline hydrothermal vents on the seabed are able to produce simple carbon-based molecules, such as methanol, formic, acetic and pyruvic acid, out of the dissolved carbon dioxide in the water.
A hydrothermal vent at Brothers volcano, Kermadec arc, New Zealand. Image credit: NOAA.
The study shows how the surfaces of mineral particles inside hydrothermal vents have similar chemical properties to enzymes, the biological molecules that govern chemical reactions in living organisms.
“There is a lot of speculation that hydrothermal vents could be the location where life on Earth began,” said study lead author Dr Nora de Leeuw of the University College London, UK.
“There is a lot of carbon dioxide dissolved in the water, which could provide the carbon that the chemistry of living organisms is based on, and there is plenty of energy, because the water is hot and turbulent. What our research proves is that these vents also have the chemical properties that encourage these molecules to recombine into molecules usually associated with living organisms.”
Dr de Leeuw and her colleagues combined lab experiments with computer simulations to investigate the conditions under which the mineral particles would catalyze the conversion of carbon dioxide into organic molecules.
The experiments replicated the conditions present in deep sea vents, where hot and slightly alkaline water rich in dissolved carbon dioxide passes over the mineral greigite (Fe3S4), located on the inside surfaces of the vents. These experiments hinted at the chemical processes that were underway.
The simulations provided a molecule-by-molecule view of how the carbon dioxide and greigite interacted, helping to make sense of what was being observed in the experiments.
“We found that the surfaces and crystal structures inside these vents act as catalysts, encouraging chemical changes in the material that settles on them,” said co-author Dr Nathan Hollingsworth, also of the University College London.
“They behave much like enzymes do in living organisms, breaking down the bonds between carbon and oxygen atoms. This lets them combine with water to produce formic acid, acetic acid, methanol and pyruvic acid. Once you have simple carbon-based chemicals such as these, it opens the door to more complex carbon-based chemistry.”
The study also has potential practical applications, showing how products such as plastics and fuels could be synthesized from carbon dioxide rather than oil.
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A. Roldan et al. 2015. Bio-inspired CO2 conversion by iron sulfide catalysts under sustainable conditions. Chem. Commun. 51, 7501-7504; doi: 10.1039/C5CC02078F
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