Paley's watchmaker analogy and prebiotic synthetic chemistry in surfactant assemblies. Formaldehyde scavenging by pyrroles leading to porphyrins as a case study.

The formation of elaborate molecules is regarded as an essential first step in prebiotic chemistry, but how such transformations could spontaneously occur, particularly in dilute aqueous conditions, remains poorly understood. Here, micromolar concentrations of a 3,4-dialkylpyrrole and excess formaldehyde in aqueous micellar solution (pH 7) at 25 or 50 °C were found to give good yield (up to 40%) of the lipophilic octaalkylporphyrin. The reaction occurs despite a mean occupancy number of ∼0.1 pyrrole molecules/micelle, and <1 of 10,000 micelles initially containing the requisite 4 pyrrole molecules to form the porphyrin assuming a (random) Poisson distribution. Yields of up to 13% were observed in large, unilamellar phosphatidylcholine vesicles, wherein there are ∼15,000 pyrrole molecules per vesicle membrane. Double-labeling crossover experiments (of 3,4-diethylpyrrole and 3,4-dimethylpyrrole) examined by mass spectrometry revealed facile exchange processes of reactive constituents among both micelle and vesicle surfactant assemblies. Together, the exchange of pyrrolic reactants among micelles and the thermodynamic driving force for tetrapyrrole formation overcome the apparent statistical odds against reaction. The fruitful exchange, accumulation and reaction of minute quantities of reactants in aqueous-surfactant assemblies suggest a general means for formation of prebiotically valuable constituents, even when the statistical odds at the outset are overwhelmingly improbable.