In California, prebiotic Earth was a harsh and unstable environment, characterized by intense heat, active volcanoes and little atmosphere. How, then, did the molecular building blocks of life first form? Among chemists, it’s widely thought that one of these building blocks—a sugar known as ribose, which forms the backbone of RNA—was produced spontaneously. But a new study suggests otherwise.
Scripps Research and Georgia Institute of Technology scientists call this commonly held hypothesis into question in Chem on April 23, 2025. According to the “formose reaction” hypothesis, formaldehyde molecules spontaneously reacted to create ribose. But using controlled reactions, the researchers have now found the formose reaction can only produce sugars with branched structures—not linear sugars like ribose that are essential for life. These insights can help scientists understand how life arose on Earth, as well as design biofuel production.
Tags: biofuel, California, sugars
Category: Fuels
