Giant vesicles from rehydrated crude mixtures containing unexpected mixtures of amphiphiles formed under plausibly prebiotic conditions.

Giant lipid vesicles resemble compartments of biological cells, mimicking them in their dimension, membrane structure and partly in their membrane composition. The spontanenous appearance of closed membranes composed of bilayers of self-assembling amphiphiles was likely a prerequisite for Darwinian competitive behavior to set in at the molecular level. Such compartments should be dynamic in their membrane composition (evolvable), and sufficiently stable to harbor macromolecules (leak-free), yet semi-permeable for reactive small molecules to get across the membrane (stay away from chemical equilibrium). Here we describe bottom-up experiments simulating prebiotic environments that support the formation of simple amphiphilic molecules capable of self-assembling into vesicular objects on the micrometer scale. Long-chain alkyl phosphates, together with related amphiphilic compounds, were formed under simulated prebiotic phosphorylation conditions by using cyanamide, a recognized prebiotic chemical activator and a precursor for several compound classes. Crude dry material of the thus obtained prebiotic mixtures formed multilamellar giant vesicles once rehydrated at the appropriate pH and in the presence of plausibly prebiotic co-surfactants, as observed by optical microscopy. The size and the shape of lipid aggregates tentatively suggest that prebiotic lipid assemblies could encapsulate peptides or nucleic acids that could be formed under similar chemical prebiotic conditions. The formation of prebiotic amphiphiles was monitored by using TLC, IR, NMR and ESI-MS and UPLC-HRMS. In addition we provide a spectroscopic analysis of cyanamide under simulated prebiotic conditions in the presence of phosphate sources and spectroscopic analysis of O-phosphorylethanolamine as a plausible precursor for phosphoethanolamine lipids.

Correction: Giant vesicles from rehydrated crude mixtures containing unexpected mixtures of amphiphiles formed under plausibly prebiotic conditions.

Correction for 'Giant vesicles from rehydrated crude mixtures containing unexpected mixtures of amphiphiles formed under plausibly prebiotic conditions' by Michele Fiore et al., Org. Biomol. Chem., 2017, 15, 4231-4240.

Mononuclear manganese(iii) complexes with reduced imino nitroxide radicals by single-electron transfer and intermolecular hydrogen bonds as an intramolecular structural driving force.

Manganese(iii) complexes were synthesized by one-electron transfer from a Mn(ii) ion to the imino nitroxide radical 2-(2-imidazolyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl (IMImH) in methanol. After the manganese ions attained the +III oxidation state, the imino nitroxide radicals were found to be irreversibly reduced in the complexes. Depending on the synthesis conditions, two complexes differing by their counter-anions were isolated as single crystals. These are [Mn(IMHIm)2(MeOH)2]ClO4·H2O (1) and [Mn(IMHIm)2(MeOH)2]PF6 (2), which crystallize in the monoclinic P21/n and triclinic P1[combining macron] space groups, respectively. The two complexes show Jahn-Teller distortions typical of Mn(iii) centres and only reduced radicals are coordinated, as indicated by the N-O bond lengths and electroneutrality. In addition, the crystal structure analyses reveal two intermolecular hydrogen bonding networks. One involves counter-anions, water molecules and reduced radicals, and the other involves coordinated methanol molecules and imidazole moieties. These intermolecular interactions are driving forces that stabilize the two complexes. They also suggest that the tautomer is in the amino imine-oxide form after reduction of the radical and reveal the deprotonation of the imidazole ring, which is required for electroneutrality. This assessment is supported by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, EPR and Raman spectroscopy as well as magnetic and electrochemical studies.