Pandora’s box and a new way of life according to science
Imagine a place where chemical and environmental conditions are presented so that there are small or large organisms that are not like us, that from their most internal chemical composition whether strange, different, unique.It seems the description of life on other planets, but it is not so, or rather we do not know if possible; However, what we are talking about is a hypothesis. This speaks of the creation of a microenvironment under extremely demanding and particular conditions, necessary to generate life and subsequently complex organisms based on boron as a central element, within a special laboratory room, which will call Pandora’s box, referring to that unknown, strange and mysterious that would emerge from this place.
Maybe more than once they will have heard about Pandora’s box, and if not, here is their origin. This box goes back to Greek mythology, which refers to Pandora, the first woman, created by Hephaestus by order of Zeus, which contained all the evils of the world. The story tells that Zeus, eager to take revenge on Prometheus for having stolen the fire and giving it to humans, presented his brother, epimete, a woman named Pandora, with whom he married.
As a wedding gift, Pandora received a box with instructions not to open it under any circumstances. The gods had granted Pandora a great curiosity, so she decided to open the box to see what was inside. When opening it, all the evils of the world escaped from the interior and when he wanted to close, only the spirit of hope was left in the background, the only good that the gods had put in it (Gonzalez M., 2010).
The box I will talk about now is somewhat different, but its meaning does not change. Organic chemistry is the branch of chemistry in which compounds based on carbon and reactions are studied, there is a wide range of substances, such as medications, vitamins, plastics, synthetic and natural fibers, carbohydrates, and the four Macromolecules necessary for the proper functioning of biological systems, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and DNA (Klein D., 2013). All this possible based on a special element of the periodic table, carbon and thanks to its small size and its ability to form 4 very stable simple links with other elements such as hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and some halogens (Klein d., 2013). However, this does not remove the fact that there are possible chemical elements suitable to form complex molecules, similar to carbon -based compounds.
(Bars j., 2007) Bore has a molar dough somewhat lower than that of carbon, which means that boron is also a small atom. The electronegativity of the carbon is greater than that of the boron, this data being useful at the time of the reactivity of compounds based on boron and oxygen, generating small dipoles where the boron would be partially positive, and the partially negative carbon, following the line of what is normally organic carbon chemistry with oxygen, where oxygen is more electronegative than carbon in this case (bars J., 2006). Boron on the other hand due to chemical rules should not have the normal capacity to form more than 3 simple simple links, however, this element is a special case, since despite having insufficient valence electrons to form 4 links, boron Use more internal layers electrons to be able to generate carbon equivalent bonds (J bars., 2007).
Now, if boron has certain properties so similar to carbon and certain aptitudes to form links similar to how carbon does, why has it been able to develop complex molecules as carbon does in organic chemistry? This is because boron -based compounds are highly reactive, flammable with air and hydrolyzables (J bars., 2007), which indicates that the Earth’s atmosphere could not promote the conditions for the formation of compounds based on Boro as proposed.
On the other hand, it is known that the most abundant elements in the atmosphere are nitrogen, oxygen, argon, water vapor and carbon dioxide (Carlomagne G., 2016), while boron is in a minimum amount in the earth’s crust (0.0003 %) and is also forming compounds that prevent direct obtaining (bars J., 2007). In addition, boron at room temperature usually occurs in crystalline structures or low molecular mobility (J bars., 2007), which makes this element in these conditions generate such diverse and capable molecules capable of carrying out so many interactions.
Now, what would happen if the normal conditions of the environment where boron is presented, in this case the earth’s crust, are altered in favor of the formation of compounds that have as a structural basis to boron. My hypothesis says that “in an isolated environment (laboratory room), where boron concentrations are higher than carbon (carbon dioxide), along with high percentages of nitrogen, argon and gas oxygen, added to a minimum amount Water vapor.
But how could this new way of life develop?. For life to take its course, 4 indispensable macromolecules are needed, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids. However, to understand how these macromolecules could be extrapolated to others based on boron, we must go to their constituents, to their monomers. Protein monomers, amino acids within their structure need a central carbon with four Sigma simple bonds, one attached to an amino group, the second to a hydrogen, the third to a carboxylic acid group and the last one to a group R (Voet d. and cabbage., 2006). Life based on boron would have a similar amino acid structure, however, central carbon would be replaced by a boron, together with the four groups or atoms already mentioned, only that group R would have the structure based on the Borders (boron compounds (boron compounds hydrogenated) and carboxylic acid could replace carbon with a boron (J bars., 2007). Although the structures that we assume based on boron would be very similar in certain aspects, due to the chemical behavior and characteristics a bit different from those of carbon, the Borders could form structures other than those already known in the alkanes, due to the lowest weight Bore’s molecular compared to carbon and the difference in bond energy between both elements.
In the case of lipids, as many fatty acids as glycerol of these macromolecules (voet d. and cabbage., 2006) can be replaced by Bordean chains, but as we said before, all depending on the behavior and characteristics of the boron in these compounds. Now, the other two remaining macromolecules would need a little more complexity, due to the greatest number of cycles in their structure, this is the case of the pentose and hexose of the nucleotides (DNA and RNA structure: phosphate-pentosa-base nitrogen) and carbohydrates (pentose, hexous and hydrocarbon chains) (voet d. and cabbage., 2006). These structures could be generated as it happens with already known structures, such as boracins, cycles of 6 carbons of unsaturated Bordene chains (double bonds) interspersed with nitrogen atoms, as these could be enough structural qualities to generate the pentose and hexosous already mentioned, and thus with the nitrogen bases of nucleic acids, thus being able to form the double and simple chains of the DNA and RNA respectively (voet d. and cabbage., 2006). With this, it is also possible the polymerization of the sugars thanks to the pentous and hexosas based on Bas.Thanks to the compounds of those already discussed, a new cell could be developed over time because it would have the chemical and structural bases to form cell walls, generate energy metabolisms, and be able to multiply and evolve to generate a complex organism.
Now they will ask, why this text began with the theme of Pandora’s box, this is because within the possibilities of life that can be generated based on boron, there is the uncertainty that within this laboratory room, This little "isolated capsule of the land environment" could generate the necessary conditions for a way of life beyond our control, unknown and possibly strange life, and that, if not duly controlled, it could even be harmful to humans or others species generated on carbon base. Pandora’s box that was initially spoken of, is rather a metaphor that refers to what can hide this possible new way of life, confined and isolated within a laboratory, within this capsulacientific.
And with this Pandora metaphor described above, an analogy can be made with Rama, since this book refers to the creation of a “mysterious” type of life, which comes out of the hands of everything that the human being can control, a complex life, in a completely unknown environment and that perhaps would take man for many years to be able to understand its most basic functioning.
In conclusion, what merits this pandora box is the possibility that this same box can be larger and more complex of what is thought, perhaps boron is not the only candidate for a new way of life under the appropriate conditions, only that perhaps we do not have the knowledge even to understand how these ways of life could be generated and under that unknown conditions could be specified. Similarly, life based on boron is based on the already known structures of biological utility macromolecules, however, it is unknown that structuring and complexity levels could surprise us the boron and the molecules of which it would be part, it is This is why the hypothesis is nonspecific in this aspect, since it gives the freedom of structure and order of life.
Bibliography
- Voet d., Voet j. Biochemistry. 2006. Pan American Medical Editorial.Booksmedicos.org
- González m. Pandora’s box in the 21st century. 2010. Greek culture II through texts II: Humanities
- J bars. Topic 11: B, Al, ga, in, tl. 2007. University of Valencia. Module 12333-inorganic chemistry. Chemical engineering. http: // www.UV.is/~ bars
- Charlemagne g. Introduction to the sciences of the Atmosphere: the atmosphere, origin, composition and structure. 2016. IMFIA-FING/IF-FCIEN
- Klein d. Organic Chemistry. 2013. Pan American Medical Editorial. www.Medicapanamericana.com
- J bars. Topic 1: Periodic table and periodic properties. 2006.
Leave feedback