preprints.org > biology and life sciences > biochemistry and molecular biology > doi: 10.20944/preprints202406.0668.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 8 June 2024 / Approved: 10 June 2024 / Online: 11 June 2024 (10:23:59 CEST)

Many of the fundamental molecules of life share extraordinary pigment-like optical properties in the long-wavelength UV-C spectral region. These include strong photon absorption and rapid (sub pico-second) dissipation of the induced electronic excitation energy into heat through peaked conical intersections. These properties have been attributed to a “natural selection” of molecules resistant to the dangerous UV-C light incident on Earth’s surface during the Archean. In contrast, the “thermodynamic dissipation theory for the origin of life” argues that, far from being detrimental, UV-C light was, in fact, the thermodynamic potential driving the dissipative structuring of life at its origin. The optical properties were thus the thermodynamic “design goals” of microscopic dissipative structuring of organic UV-C pigments, today known as the “fundamental molecules of life”, from common precursors under this light. This “UV-C Pigment World” evolved towards greater solar photon dissipation through more complex dissipative structuring pathways, eventually producing visible pigments to dissipate less energetic, but higher intensity, visible photons, up to wavelengths of the “red-edge”. The propagation and dispersal of organic pigments, catalyzed by animals, and their coupling with abiotic dissipative processes, such as the water cycle, culminated in the apex photon dissipative structure, today’s biosphere.

pigment world; fundamental molecules; origin of life; evolution; disspative structuring; entropy production; prebiotic chemistry; abiogenisis; adenine; biosphere; natural selection

Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

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