ChemOrigins: A community curated database for origins of life chemistry

preprint OA: closed CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
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Abstract

The origin of life is one of the most compelling questions in science. While experimental prebiotic chemistry has produced a wide range of reactions and plausible pathways, the resulting data remain fragmented across numerous publications and disciplinary journals. Here, we introduce ChemOrigins , an open-access, community-curated knowledge graph that organizes experimentally supported prebiotic reactions. By representing molecules, reactions, conditions, and literature sources as interconnected nodes, ChemOrigins enables modular grouping of reactions and supports complex, query-driven exploration via a graph database architecture. We demonstrate the utility of this framework through text-based searches, reaction network expansions, and the interactive visualization of user-annotated chemical modules. Unlike generative models, ChemOrigins prioritizes curated, evidence-based content and fosters community contributions through expert annotations and a user-friendly interface. As a structured resource, ChemOrigins is designed to complement existing chemical databases and serve as a foundation for computational, educational, and theoretical research in the origins-of-life field.

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europepmc
last seen: 2026-05-20T01:45:00.602351+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-05-22T02:00:06.705733+00:00
License: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0