Title: 
Influence of Mineral Surfaces in the Development and Stabilization of Organic Molecules in Prebiotic Conditions

Speaker:
Dr. Ellen Yvette Aguilar Ovando (Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, UNAM; Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, UAEM, Mexico)

Abstract:
The origin of life on our planet and its evolution are an enigma that has occupied humankind since the beginning of history. How, when, and why are still questions unsolved, but since the first experiments of Miller in 1953, there is been possible to find some clues that are helping us to understand the mystery. To explain how chemical evolution processes might have took place in the early Earth and space, and which were the fundamental factors that influenced the process of evolution, requires to examinee many variables. In this work it is been evaluated the influence of some mineral surfaces (like Sodium Montmorillonite, olivine and a carbonaceous chondrite) on the chemical transformations undergone by different types of organic molecules (nucleoside, amino acids, aldehydes) when subjected to conditions simulating the primitive Earth during the period of chemical evolution. The experiments prove the hypothesis of the concentration capacity and protective role against external sources of ionizing radiation (specifically γ-ray) that some solid surfaces can provide to organic compounds adsorbed on them, and also contribute new evidence regarding the mineral-homochirality development hypothesis.