A fundamental question of science is how did Life arise on the early Earth? Obviously, for Life to arise all of its building blocks must have been in place. However, there is intense debate on how the essential building blocks of Life, such as carbohydrates, inorganic phosphate and simple cells formed in the absence of any biological processes. The group applies synthetic chemistry techniques to understand these processes. To date we have shown that amino esters and amino nitriles (precursors of amino acids) can promote the formation of glyceraldehyde, threose, erythrose and 2-deoxy-D-ribose with the highest enantioselectivities reported. We are also investigating the synthesis of a simple protocell, capable of catalysing the formation of essential carbohydrates.

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