The Center for Chemical Evolution (CCE) coordinates and supports the highly collaborative research necessary to understand the chemistry required for the spontaneous emergence of functional polymers, such as proteins and DNA, from complex chemical mixtures. An interdisciplinary team of researchers will tackle this grand challenge using a three-pronged strategy: 1) Construct a working model chemical inventory of potentially prebiotic molecules and understand their reactivity; 2) Explore alternative reactions and solvent conditions that could have facilitated polymerization in the prebiotic world; and 3) Synthesize and characterize putative proto-biopolymers as a means to discover which building blocks and polymer architectures might have preceded those found in life today. When combined in one Center, synergy across these themes will accelerate our understanding of the emergent properties of matter -- properties that underpin chemical evolution and provide the foundations for the origins of biology. Understanding the spontaneous assembly of functional polymers will lead to new structures, reactions, and assemblies with applications that span the fields of organic, polymer, supramolecular, and biomimetic chemistry; new analytical tools and approaches for dealing with complex chemical mixtures; and an insight into matter and reactivity that will impact areas of both pure and applied chemistry.
Chemical evolution experiments have a broad and unique ability to excite students and the general public about the power of chemistry to see into our distant past. The Center will educate a diverse group of students at all levels. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will have access to professional development opportunities in teaching and public communication. The Center will increase participation of underrepresented groups by partnering with specific undergraduate institutions and by providing access to Center research through both direct and videoconference interactions. Center researchers will collaborate with high school teachers and faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions to develop and distribute chemical evolution modules for incorporation into introductory and organic chemistry courses. The Center sees the misconceptions of chemical and biological evolution as a critical public outreach opportunity, and it has identified unique educational and public venues to promote science literacy and enthusiasm for pursuing careers in the chemical sciences. Center researchers and students will make major impacts on the public's perception of chemistry by working with artists who are creating new science-inspired performing and visual works of art, promoting publicly accessible informal talks in the form of "Science Cafés," and contributing to national websites and education centers on chemical and evolution education. The development of new analytical tools, environmentally benign solvent systems, and biomimetic emergent polymers will be widely disseminated in partnership with the private sector.
The Center for Chemical Evolution is jointly funded by the NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation Program and the NASA Astrobiology Program.
