Recent Trends in Prebiotic Chemistry
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Origin of Life".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 April 2026 | Viewed by 261
Special Issue Editor
2. Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education Center (RARE), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
Interests: prebiotic phosphorylation; mineral-clay catalysis; reduced phosphorus chemistry; hydrothermal phosphorus chemistry; non-aqueous solvents; condensation–dehydration reactions; synthetic chemistry
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Understanding the origin of life is fundamental to addressing some of science’s most profound questions about our existence and our place in the universe. This field bridges multiple disciplines—biology, chemistry, astronomy, and geology—and offers valuable insights into how life may emerge elsewhere in the cosmos. Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in prebiotic chemistry and origins-of-life research, opening new avenues for exploration and discovery.
We are pleased to announce the Special Issue titled ‘Recent Trends in Prebiotic Chemistry’ in the journal Life. This issue seeks to explore a very broad spectrum of topics related to the inventory of organic and inorganic chemicals on early Earth, as well as the chemical evolution, prebiotic synthesis and emergence of life. We encourage submissions from both early career- and established researchers. Our aim is to highlight original research that deepens our understanding of life’s origins while offering fresh perspectives on the future of the field.
We invite researchers to contribute manuscripts that address, but are not limited to, the following foundational and emerging topics within an emphasis on recent trends in the origins of life and related disciplines:
- Early Earth conditions—a geochemical perspective;
- Early Earth inventory;
- Chirality;
- Roles of meteorites in the origin of life;
- Prebiotic chemical synthesis;
- Early metabolic cycles;
- Modern analog sites to understand early Earth and origin of life;
- Challenges in prebiotic synthesis;
- Self-assembly and autocatalytic reactions;
- Mineral, clay, and salt induced prebiotic synthesis;
- Condensation, dehydration including wet-dry cyclic reactions;
- Messy chemistry;
- The evolution of earliest life;
- The impact of prebiotic chemistry on the quest for extraterrestrial biosignatures;
- Analytical techniques to study prebiotic chemical reactions;
- Interstellar syntheses;
- Meteoritics;
- Astrophysics.
Dr. Maheen Gull
Guest Editor
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. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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
- early earth
- prebiotic chemistry
- meteorites
- molecules of life
- phosphorylation
- challenges in prebiotic chemistry
- chirality
- condensation
- wet–dry cycles
- RNA world
- hydrothermal systems
- mineral catalysis
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