Organometallic compounds as carriers of extraterrestrial cyanide in primitive meteorites

Cyanide is thought to be crucial for the origin of life. Here, the authors showed that iron cyanocarbonyl complexes are present in meteorites and propose that these compounds were a source of free cyanide on early Earth and served as precursors to the active sites of ancient hydrogenases.

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Karen E. Smith, Christopher H. House, Ricardo D. Arevalo, Jason P. Dworkin, Michael P. Callahan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2019-06-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10866-x