title: Two-dimensional life?
abstract: A model [Wächtershäuser, G. (1988) Microbiol. Rev. 52, 452-484], according to which life started in the form of a monomolecular layer of interacting anionic metabolites electrostatically bound to a positively charged surface, is examined critically.  The model raises a number of thermodynamic and kinetic difficulties.
authors.affiliation: The Rockefeller University, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Duve
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000838:Anions; D005075:Biological Evolution; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D008903:Minerals; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009694:Nucleic Acid Precursors / Q000737:chemistry; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000069497:Origin of Life; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D000838:Anions; D008903:Minerals; D009694:Nucleic Acid Precursors; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D011108:Polymers; D013440:Sulfides; C011342:pyrite; D007501:Iron