Which Organic Compounds Could Have Occurred on the Prebiotic Earth?
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
In the past three decades, a wide variety of experiments have been designed to simulate conditions on the primitive earth and to demonstrate how organic compounds that made up the first living organisms were synthesized. This paper reviews this work and indicates the status of such syntheses. There is too much material to review in detail, and the reader is directed to a number of more complete discussions (Miller and Orgel 1974; Kenyon and Steinman 1969; Lemmon 1970).
Composition of the Primitive Atmosphere
There is no agreement on the constituents of the primitive atmosphere. It is to be noted that there is no geological evidence concerning the conditions on the earth from 4.5 × 109 to 3.8 × 109 years, since no rocks older than 3.8 × 109 years are known. Even the 3.8 × 109-year-old Isua Rocks in Greenland are not sufficiently well preserved to infer details of the...
