Prebiotic Chemistry and Chemical Evolution of Nucleic Acids

Dr. Menor-Salvan is astrobiologist and Professor of Biochemistry at Universidad de Alcala (Spain), and scientist affiliated to the Center for Chemical Evolution (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA). His main research interest is the Prebiotic Chemistry and Chemical Evolution of biopolymers and Origins of Life.

• 1. Nucleobases on the primitive Earth:  their sources and stabilities.- 2. Condensation and decomposition of nucleotides in simulated hydrothermal fields.- 3. Mineral-Organic Interactions in Prebiotic Synthesis. The Discontinuous Synthesis Model for the Formation of RNA in Naturally Complex Geological Environments.- 4. From the dawn of Organic Chemistry to Astrobiology: urea as a foundational component in the origin of nucleobases and nucleotides.- 5. Searching for possible ancestors of RNA: The self-assembly hypothesis for the origin of proto-RNA.- 6. The origin of the ionized linker: Geochemical predestination for phosphate?.- 7. Template-directed replication of nucleic acids mediated by viscous environments.- 8. Folding and catalysis near life’s origin: support for Fe2+ as a dominant divalent cation.- 9. Connections between mathematical models of prebiotic evolution and homochirality.- 10. Network theory in Prebiotic Evolution.