Attempts to solve two fundamental questions are described: the first concerns which mechanisms were responsible for the self-assembly of membrane structures on the prebiotic Earth, and the second concerns the routes by which considerable amounts of membrane amphiphiles formed from simpler hydrocarbons. The physicochemical properties of several amphiphilic compounds extracted from the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite were studied, using infra-red and fluorescent spectroscopy, measurements of surface activity, chromato-mass spectrometry, and polarization and electron microscopy. The results supported previous observations that amphiphilic and aromatic hydrocarbons were present in significant quantities, and the first demonstration of surface activity among a number of acidic derivatives of hydrocarbons is reported. In addition, one fraction of the surface-active compounds can form bilayer structures, showing that membranes could have self-assembled on the prebiotic Earth. Photochemical oxidation of hydrocarbons is shown to be a likely source of the amphiphilic molecules required for the self-assembly of primary membrane structures.

中文翻译：

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两亲分子的起源及其在一级结构形成中的作用。

描述了解决两个基本问题的尝试：第一个问题涉及哪些机制负责益生地球上膜结构的自组装，第二个问题涉及由较简单的烃类形成大量膜两亲物的途径。使用红外和荧光光谱，表面活性测量，色谱质谱，偏光和电子显微镜研究了从默奇森碳质球粒陨石中提取的几种两亲化合物的理化性质。该结果支持了先前的观察，即两亲和芳族烃大量存在，并且报道了许多烃的酸性衍生物中表面活性的首次证明。此外，一小部分表面活性化合物可以形成双层结构，这表明膜可能已经在益生元地球上自组装。碳氢化合物的光化学氧化被证明是主要膜结构自组装所需的两亲分子的可能来源。