Reasons why life on Earth rarely makes fluorine-containing compounds and their implications for the search for life beyond Earth

Petkowski, Janusz J., Seager, Sara and Bains, William 2024. Reasons why life on Earth rarely makes fluorine-containing compounds and their implications for the search for life beyond Earth. Scientific Reports 14 (1) , 15575. 10.1038/s41598-024-66265-w

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Abstract

Life on Earth is known to rarely make fluorinated carbon compounds, as compared to other halocarbons. We quantify this rarity, based on our exhaustive natural products database curated from available literature. We build on explanations for the scarcity of fluorine chemistry in life on Earth, namely that the exclusion of the C–F bond stems from the unique physico-chemical properties of fluorine, predominantly its extreme electronegativity and strong hydration shell. We further show that the C–F bond is very hard to synthesize and when it is made by life its potential biological functions can be readily provided by alternative functional groups that are much less costly to incorporate into existing biochemistry. As a result, the overall evolutionary cost-to-benefit balance of incorporation of the C–F bond into the chemical repertoire of life is not favorable. We argue that the limitations of organofluorine chemistry are likely universal in that they do not exclusively apply to specifics of Earth’s biochemistry. C–F bonds, therefore, will be rare in life beyond Earth no matter its chemical makeup.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 July 2024
Date of Acceptance:	1 July 2024
Last Modified:	08 Jul 2024 08:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/170407

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