title: TiO2-catalyzed synthesis of sugars from formaldehyde in extraterrestrial impacts on the early Earth.
abstract: Recent synthetic efforts aimed at reconstructing the beginning of life on our planet point at the plausibility of scenarios fueled by extraterrestrial energy sources. In the current work we show that beyond nucleobases the sugar components of the first informational polymers can be synthesized in this way. We demonstrate that a laser-induced high-energy chemistry combined with TiO2 catalysis readily produces a mixture of pentoses, among them ribose, arabinose and xylose. This chemistry might be highly relevant to the Late Heavy Bombardment period of Earth's history about 4-3.85 billion years ago. In addition, we present an in-depth theoretical analysis of the most challenging step of the reaction pathway, i.e., the TiO2-catalyzed dimerization of formaldehyde leading to glycolaldehyde.
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Svatopluk
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Civiš
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, CZ-612 65 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Rafał
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Szabla
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands.|Division of Fuels Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology, Gdańska 7/9, 50-344 Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Bartłomiej M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Szyja
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Wrocław University of Technology, Ul. Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370, Wrocław.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smykowski
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondřej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ivanek
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Antonín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knížek
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.|Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kubelík
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, CZ-612 65 Brno, Czech Republic.|CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Campus Bohunice, Kamenice 5, CZ-62500 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Šponer
authors.affiliation: J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dolejškova 3, CZ-182 23 Prague 8, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferus
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, CZ-612 65 Brno, Czech Republic.|CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Campus Bohunice, Kamenice 5, CZ-62500 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Judit E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Šponer
mesh_terms: D001089:Arabinose / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D002384:Catalysis; D019281:Dimerization; D018534:Earth, Planet; D019419:Evolution, Planetary; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000737:chemistry*; D000069497:Origin of Life; D012266:Ribose / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014994:Xylose / Q000138:chemical synthesis
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; C009495:titanium dioxide; D005557:Formaldehyde; D012266:Ribose; C010963:formose sugars; D014994:Xylose; D001089:Arabinose; D014025:Titanium