The many roles of quantum tunnelling in chemical and biological evolution

Tunnelling is a non-trivial quantum phenomenon which becomes effective at scales of around one nanometer and below. It enables elementary particles and atoms to negotiate an energetic barrier without having sufficient energy to overcome it. That seemingly paradoxical phenomenon might seem to be an exotic process only important for particle physics and quantum physical applications such as the Tunnel Diode or Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy.

This review discusses why quantum tunnelling is of vital importance for prebiotic chemistry and molecular biology and how physical and chemical processes which are essential for the chemical and biological evolution can be traced directly back to the effect of quantum tunnelling. These processes include the chemical evolution within the cold interstellar medium and within stars, prebiotic chemistry in the subsurface and atmosphere of planetary bodies, the rise and persistence of habitable conditions via insolation and geothermal heat and the function of complex biomolecules. 

The contribution provides a highly multidisciplinary view on quantum tunnelling in the context of the research on the origin and evolution of life and shows that tunnelling makes significant complexification in molecular and biological evolution possible by providing different sources of constant energy flux over a long period of time, enables synthesis pathways for astrochemical reactions which would otherwise not occur, and enables or influences specific functions of biomolecular nanomachines that maintain the process of life.

Reference

• Trixler. Quantum Tunneling to the Origin and Evolution of Life. Curr. Org. Chem. 17(16), 1758-1770 (2013). DOI: 10.2174/13852728113179990083