The Prebiotic Pathway from P-Bearing Iron Meteorites to Phosphates by DFT Modeling

Among the biogenic macroelements, phosphorus is the one bringing the most fascinating and unsolved mysteries concerning its prebiotic history. It possibly landed on Earth as a metal phosphide (schreibersite, (Fe,Ni)3P), throughout the Heavy Meteor Bombardment during the Archean Era. Its subsequent corrosion by water led to P-oxygenated compounds, which are the subject of this kinetic computational study, which complements our previous thermodynamic characterization. The reaction was studied at the periodic DFT level, simulating the water corrosion reaction on the reactive Fe2NiP schreibersite (001) surface. Results show that the time scale of the reaction at 350 K is a few hours.