Prebiotic photosynthetic reactions

Abstract

Historically, numerous attempts have been made to mimic - by means of inorganic model reactions - the photosynthetic fixation of CO2 by green plants. The literature in this field is strewn with claims and counter-claims. Two factors have led us to reexamine this subject: firstly; doubts concerning the highly reducing model for the atmosphere of the primitive Earth and secondly; recent results which demonstrate that photoreductive fixation is feasable on a suitable catalytic surface, for both CO2 and N2. The latter observation is of particular interest due to the well-known susceptibility of NH3 to photolytic destruction. Our review of the literature leads us to suggest that similar processes would have been plausible for the primitive Earth and could have been prebiotic precursors to an early development of CO2-fixing autotrophs.