The Mechanochemical Genesis of Prebiotics

Elissaios Stavrou | 18-LW-036

Executive Summary

We will address the question of whether life exists beyond Earth by exploring the mechanochemical processes that may lead to abiogenesis. By developing and applying tools to study materials and extreme conditions that mimic those of extrasolar planets, this study both advances fundamental science and builds technical competencies that support national security interests.

Publications and Presentations

Clarke, S. M., et al. 2018. "Study of Glycine-Water Mixtures Under Pressure." LLNL-POST-754329.

Hinton, J. K. 2018. "Structural Study of a Glycine Under Extreme Conditions." LLNL-POST-755982.

Kroonblawd, M. P. 2018. "Leveraging High Throughput Models to Predict Condensed Phase Chemistry." LLNL-PRES-758890.

Kroonblawd, M. P. and N. Goldman. 2018. "Generating Converged Quantum-Accurate Free Energy Surfaces for Chemical Reactions with a Force-Matched Semi-Empirical Model." LLNL-POST-746702.

Kroonblawd, M. P., et al. 2018. "Generating Chemically Accurate Density Functional Tight Binding Models for Glycine Chemistry at Ambient and Extreme Conditions." LLNL-PRES-756610.

Stavrou, E., et al. 2018. "Synthesis of Xenon and Iron-Nickel Intermetallic Compounds at Earth's Core Thermodynamic Conditions." Physics Review Letters 120(9): 096001. doi: 10.1103/physRevLett.120.096001. LLNL-JRNL-729319.