Chemical oscillatory reactions with proteinoids

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the potential of proteinoids to act as substrates for chemical oscillatory reactions. Proteinoids are thermally polymerized polymers of multiple amino acids, and their unique physicochemical properties make them suitable substrates in chemical vibration reactions. To this end, experiments were carried out using the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) and Briggs–Rauscher (BR) reactions as models, with the proteinoids acting as substrates and the resulting cyclic color changes and redox potential fluctuations being observed. The results demonstrated that specific proteinoids (PV, AEV and APV) exhibited oscillatory behavior in the BZ reaction, with PV exhibiting the highest degree of oscillation and activation energies similar to those of the conventional BZ reaction. In contrast, the BR reaction exhibited cyclic behavior exclusively when DCP was employed as a substrate, suggesting that the molecular structure of the proteinoid exerts a profound influence on its substrate properties. Notably, no oscillatory reactions were observed in the amino acid mixture utilized as a control experiment, underscoring the distinctive nature of proteinoids as unique macromolecules capable of triggering chemical oscillatory reactions. These findings indicate that proteinoids may serve as promising models for investigating the origin and early evolution of life. This research broadens the scope for exploring dynamic molecular systems using proteinoids, offering new avenues for research in life sciences and chemistry.