Prebiotic Photochemistry

Photochemistry is an important facet in the study of the origin of life and prebiotic chemistry. Solar photons are the unique source of the large amounts of energy likely required to initiate the organisation of matter to produce biological life. The Miller-Urey experiment simulated the conditions thought to be present on the early earth and supported the hypothesis that under such conditions complex organic compounds could be synthesised from simpler inorganic precursors. The experiment inspired many others, including the production of various alcohols, aldehydes and organic acids through UV-photolysis of water vapour with carbon monoxide. This book covers the photochemical aspects of the study of prebiotic and origin of life chemistry an ideal companion for postgraduates and researchers in prebiotic chemistry, photochemistry, photobiology, chemical biology and astrochemistry.

Auteur

Franz Saija (1969) is currently a research scientist at the Institute for Chemical and Physical Processes of the Italian National Research Council. He received his PhD degree in Physics at the University of Messina in 1996. He did postodoctoral research with Prof. Jean-Paul Ryckaert (ULB-Bruxelles) and then returned to Italy where won a competition as a researcher at the Institute of Spectroscopic Techniques in 2000. His research is oriented toward the investigation of systems of soft condensed matter using theoretical approaches, numerical simulation methods and experimental techniques (light and neutron spectroscopy). Recently, his scientific interests have shifted towards the computational study of prebiotic chemistry processes. He is co-author of over 120 scientific articles and of 5 book chapters.
Giuseppe Cassone (1987) is currently tenure Researcher at the Institute for Chemical and Physical Processes of the Italian National Research Council. He received his PhD diploma in 2016 in Physics and Chemistry of Materials at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Sorbonne (Paris, France) under the supervision of Prof. A. Marco Saitta and performed postdoctoral researches at the Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Brno, Czechia) with Prof. Jiri Sponer until 2019. He got the Seal of Excellence by the European Commission for a Marie-Curie Individual Fellowhip proposal. He co-authored over 35 scientific articles and 2 book chapters.