title: Natural pyrrhotite as a catalyst in prebiotic chemical evolution.
abstract: The idea of an autotrophic organism as the first living being on Earth leads to the hypothesis of a protometabolic, complex chemical system. In one of the main hypotheses, the first metabolic systems emerged from the interaction between sulfide minerals and/or soluble iron-sulfide complexes and fluids rich in inorganic precursors, which are reduced and derived from crustal or mantle activity. Within this context, the possible catalytic role of pyrrhotite, one of the most abundant sulfide minerals, in biomimetic redox and carbon fixation reactions was studied. Our results showed that pyrrhotite, under simulated hydrothermal conditions, could catalyze the pyruvate synthesis from lactate and that a dynamic system formed by coupling iron metal and iron-sulfur species in an electrochemical cell could promote carbon fixation from thioacetate esters.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid 28850, Spain. lopezima@cab.inta-csic.es.
authors.forename: Alejandra López Ibáñez
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: de Aldecoa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao 48080, Spain. francisco.velasco@ehu.es.
authors.forename: Francisco Velasco
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Roldán
authors.affiliation: Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid 28850, Spain. cmenor@mtiblog.com.
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Menor-Salván