Bulletin of Pure & Applied Sciences- Chemistry
  • Year: 2022
  • Volume: 41c
  • Issue: 1

The possibility of silicon-based life

  • Author:
  • Ricardo Gobato1, Alireza Heidari2,*, Abhijit Mitra3, Lauro Figueroa Valverde4
  • Total Page Count: 7
  • Page Number: 52 to 58

1Green Land Landscaping and Gardening, Seedling Growth Laboratory86130-000, Parana, Brazil

2Faculty of Chemistry, California South University, 14731Comet St. Irvine, CA92604, USA

3Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35 B.C. RoadKolkata, 700019, India

4University Autonomous of Campeche (Faculty of Chemical-Biological Sciences), Calle Av. Agustin Melgar s/n, Buenavista, 24039Campeche, Mexico

*Corresponding Author Alireza Heidari, Faculty of Chemistry, California South University, 14731 Comet St. Irvine, CA92604, USA. e-mails: scholar.researcher.scientist@gmail.com; alireza.heidari@calsu.us

Online published on 6 July, 2022.

Abstract

Silicon is the most obvious potential substitute for carbon, and the Possibility of Silicon-Based Life is the focus of the work. An analysis of the sites of action of four silicon-based exobiological nanomolecules, determined by the distribution of electrical charges around the nanomolecules atoms called: ASi, CSi, GSi and TSi. The Van der Waals radius distribution calculations have been determined via ab initio Hartree-Fock methods, Unrestricted and Restrict (UHF and RHF) in the set of bases used Effective Core Potential (ECP) minimal basis, and CC-pVTZ (Correlation-consistent valence-only basis sets triple-zeta). Polymers can also be assembled as chains of alternating elements such as Si-C, Si-O, and B-N. Alternation with carbon is used to some extent in terran organisms (such as C-C-N in proteins and C-C-C-O-P-O in nucleic acids), and silated compounds play important structural roles in the cells of many organisms on Earth.

Keywords

Silicon, Astrobiology, Exobiology, Hartree-Fock Methods, Van der Waals, Life