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Hydrogen
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Reactions of Hydrogen with Inorganic and Organic Molecules in Aqueous...
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Reactions of Hydrogen with Inorganic and Organic Molecules in Aqueous Media

A special issue of Hydrogen (ISSN 2673-4141).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 November 2026 | Viewed by 625

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ignat Ignatov

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Guest Editor
Scientific Research Center of Medical Biophysics (SRCMB), 1111 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: hydrogen; water clusters; origin of life; longevity; plasma water
Prof. Dr. Yordan G. Marinov

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Guest Editor
Georgi Nadjakov Institute of Solid State Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: hydrogen; liquid crystals; water clusters; origin of life
Dr. Teodora Todorova

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Guest Editor
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: yeast; hydrogen; antioxidant; antitoxicological effects

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue presents recent advances in the use of hydrogen in aqueous-phase reactions with inorganic and organic molecules. The focus is on both fundamental studies and practical applications, with direct relevance to green chemistry, energy systems, and chemical synthesis.

The contributions cover homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, highlighting efficient and environmentally friendly methods for hydrogen production, activation, and utilization in aqueous media. Special attention is given to reactions that occur under mild conditions, offering practical advantages in terms of safety, cost, and sustainability.

The development of novel strategies for activating molecular hydrogen and controlling its reactivity with diverse substrates is one of the key themes of this Special Issue. The role of water is examined not just as a solvent, but as a medium that can influence reaction rates and pathways by stabilizing key intermediates and transition states.

Hydrogen is considered one of the key molecular drivers of redox reactions in the primordial hydrosphere potentially contributing to the origin of life. Its reactivity in a water-rich, high-temperature environment may have enabled the formation of essential organic compounds, laying the groundwork for the emergence of life.

This Special Issue includes contributions that explore these fundamental questions at the intersection of chemistry, geoscience, and biology.

Prof. Dr. Ignat Ignatov
Prof. Dr. Yordan G. Marinov
Dr. Teodora Todorova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Hydrogen is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • inorganic and organic substrates
  • hydrogen reactions
  • catalysis (homogeneous and heterogeneous)
  • green chemistry
  • hydrogen activation
  • origin of life

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 2040 KB  
Article
Microstructures as Models for Origin of Life in Hot Water: Hydrogen-Assisted Self-Assembly of Glycine and Alanine Zwitterions
by Ignat Ignatov
Hydrogen 2025, 6(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrogen6030067 - 9 Sep 2025
Viewed by 463
Abstract
Building on the early investigation by Sidney W. Fox that dry-heated amino acids can spontaneously form microspheres, this research studies the self-organization of glycine and alanine with hydrogen in a liquid system. This study aimed to investigate the spontaneous formation of membraneless, microscale [...] Read more.
Building on the early investigation by Sidney W. Fox that dry-heated amino acids can spontaneously form microspheres, this research studies the self-organization of glycine and alanine with hydrogen in a liquid system. This study aimed to investigate the spontaneous formation of membraneless, microscale amino acid assemblies under simulated prebiotic hydrothermal conditions, such as hot mineral sources and ponds. Aqueous solutions of glycine and alanine were prepared in a hydrogen-rich mineral buffer and thermally incubated at 75 °C. Phase-contrast microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and molecular modeling were employed to analyze the morphology and internal organization of the resulting structures. Microscopy revealed that zwitterionic glycine and alanine spontaneously self-organize into spherical microspheres (~12 µm), in which the charged –NH3+ and –COO− groups orient outward, while the hydrophobic methyl groups of alanine point inward, forming a stabilized internal core. The primary studies were performed with hot mineral water from Rupite, Bulgaria, at 73.4 °C. The resulting osmotic pressure difference Δπ ≈ 2490 Pa, derived from the van’t Hoff equalization. This suggests a chemically asymmetric system capable of sustaining directional water flux and passive molecular enrichment. The zwitterionic nature of glycine and alanine, which possesses both –NH3+ and –COO− groups, supports the formation of microspheres in our experiments. Under conditions with hot mineral water and hydrogen acting as a reducing agent in the primordial atmosphere, these amino acids self-organized into dense interfacial microspheres. These findings support the idea that thermally driven, zwitterion-mediated aggregation of simple amino acids, such as glycine and alanine, with added hydrogen, could generate membraneless, selectively organized microenvironments on the early Earth. Such microspheres may represent a plausible intermediate between dispersed organisms and microspheres. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reactions of Hydrogen with Inorganic and Organic Molecules in Aqueous Media)
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