Borophosphates and silicophosphates as plausible contributors to the emergence of life

• Inorganic hydrogels as cradle of prebiotic processes.
• Enantiomeric enrichment using chiral minerals.
• Chiral minerals derived from inorganic hydrogels.
• Phosphorylations in inorganic hydrogels.
• Prebiotic stabilization of molecules with vicinal cis-diol groups.

Scientific explanations for the origin of life are incomplete and may differ on some issues. Here, we argue that some prebiological steps have occurred in environments with borophosphates and/or silicophosphates in the form of hydrogels, on the basis of their chemical groups and structural properties. These could have decreased the diffusion rate of some prebiotic molecules, stabilized molecules with vicinal cis-diol groups, reduced the hydrolytic activity of water and inserted catalytic metal ions into their networks. Additionally, these hydrogels could have acted as reaction media, supplied a phosphate source for phosphorylations and produced crystals that may have permitted enantiomeric enrichment of prebiotic molecules, thus providing conditions for the emergence of protocells.

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