The low concentration issue is a fundamental challenge when it comes to prebiotic chemistry, as macromolecular systems need to be assembled via intermolecular reactions, and this is inherently difficult in dilute solutions. This is especially true when the reactions are challenging, and reactions that proceeded more rapidly could have dictated chemical evolution. Herein we establish that formaldehyde is capable of catalyzing, via temporary intramolecularity, a challenging reaction in water at low concentrations, thus providing an alternative to other approaches that can either lead to higher concentrations or higher effective molarities.

中文翻译：

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关于甲醛在水中作为束缚催化剂的能力。


对于生命前化学来说，低浓度问题是一个根本性的挑战，因为大分子系统需要通过分子间反应组装，而这在稀溶液中本质上是困难的。当反应具有挑战性并且进行得更快的反应可能决定化学演化时尤其如此。在此，我们确定甲醛能够通过临时分子内催化低浓度水中的挑战性反应，从而为其他可以导致更高浓度或更高有效摩尔浓度的方法提供了替代方案。