Catalytic Prebiotic Formation of Glycerol Phosphate Esters and an Estimation of Their Steady State Abundance under Plausible Early Earth Conditions

The emergence of biological phosphate esters of glycerol could have been a crucial step in the origin and evolution of life on the early Earth as glycerol phosphates today play a central role in biochemistry. We investigate here the formation of the glycerol phosphates by employing various rock samples, salts, and minerals as potential catalysts to aid the phosphorylation process. We report the synthesis of various phosphate esters of glycerol...