Abstract
Two cyclic ethers, 2-n-propyl-3-methyltetrahydrofuran and 2-n-propyltetrahydropyran, have been identified for the first time from the insoluble polymer-like kerogen in a Precambrian rock by ozonolysis, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. These compounds could prove to be the oldest indigenous biochemical fossils. This same carbonate stromatolite contains abundant and well preserved fossil coccoid and filamentous blue–green algae, some of which show the first known evidence of the diversification of cells1. Many of the filamentous algae in this and other Transvaal stromatolites contain specialised cells, akinite and heterocyst-like structures1,2. This sample was obtained 750 m stratigraphically above the base of the Transvaal Sequence from an outcrop approximately 315 km north-east of Johannesburg, South Africa3. Using isotope dating4,5 the age of this sample has been estimated to be ∼2,300 Myr (D. A. Pretorius, personal communication).
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ZUMBERGE, J., NAGY, B. Alkyl substituted cyclic ethers in 2,300 Myr old Transvaal algal stromatolite. Nature 255, 695–696 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/255695a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/255695a0
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