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PreprintCC BYChemRxiv

Origin-of-life chemistry is a problem of chemical composability

  • Hengyue Xu1,2,3,4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Chemistry
  2. 2Tsinghua University
  3. 3Department of Chemical Engineering
  4. 4University of Melbourne
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Abstract

Life is usually described by biological functions such as metabolism, replication and evolution. A complementary chemical question lies upstream: what properties of a chemical world make such functions physically realizable? No single interaction strength, solvent property or temperature can answer this because persistence, exchange, reaction, transport and driven organization impose competing requirements. Compatibility may occur under one condition or across an ordered environmental history, provided useful states survive between stages. Autonomy emerges not through environmental independence, but as more constraints coordinating chemical flux are generated and maintained by the system itself. We propose a chemistry-first diagnostic programme mapping molecular failure modes, constructive trajectories and system-generated constraints across scales, from molecular interactions to reaction networks and selfmaintaining organization.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{xu2026originoflife,
  title = {{Origin-of-life chemistry is a problem of chemical composability}},
  author = {Hengyue Xu},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009041/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009041/v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Origin-of-life chemistry is a problem of chemical composability
AU  - Hengyue Xu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/18
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009041/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009041/v1
AB  - Life is usually described by biological functions such as metabolism, replication and evolution. A complementary chemical question lies upstream: what properties of a chemical world make such functions physically realizable? No single interaction strength, solvent property or temperature can answer this because persistence, exchange, reaction, transport and driven organization impose competing requirements. Compatibility may occur under one condition or across an ordered environmental history, provided useful states survive between stages. Autonomy emerges not through environmental independence, but as more constraints coordinating chemical flux are generated and maintained by the system itself. We propose a chemistry-first diagnostic programme mapping molecular failure modes, constructive trajectories and system-generated constraints across scales, from molecular interactions to reaction networks and selfmaintaining organization.
ER  -