THE DIOL THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

Traditional models of abiogenesis rely on the "primordial soup" paradigm, treating life as a planetary accident contingent on narrow local conditions. We propose an alternative astrobiological framework—the Diol Theory of the Origin of Life—which relocates the onset of biological precursors from planetary oceans to interstellar molecular clouds.

The theory posits that Sun-like stars act as biogenerators, their visible-range radiation driving photochemical synthesis of universal building blocks on icy dust grains. Central to this process are diols (ethylene glycol and propylene glycol), whose distinctive geometry—two hydroxyl groups on a stable carbon backbone—endows them with unique amphiphilic and vitrifying properties. In interstellar ice analogs, diols form efficiently at cryogenic temperatures (≈13 K) and remain stabilized in amorphous, glass-like matrices for geological timescales. Observational data from comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), and recent JWST detections of complex organics around protostar ST6 in the Large Magellanic Cloud confirm the ubiquity of these molecules beyond the Solar System.

Diols function as a universal interface: they inhibit destructive ice recrystallization, stabilize protomembranes, chelate metal catalysts, and serve as direct precursors to glycolaldehyde and, via the formose reaction, to ribose—the backbone of the RNA world. Upon planetary impact, cometary diols enable a controlled "unpacking" of organic cargo into liquid water, creating structured microenvironments that bridge cosmic chemistry and cellular organization.

This framework treats planets not as birthplaces but as activation sites for a stellar matrix encoded with scalable symmetry. The bilateral geometry inherent to diols is argued to propagate through biological hierarchy—from double helices to bilateral body plans—suggesting that life around Sun-like stars converges on a recognizable, symmetry-based architecture. The theory generates testable predictions for exoplanet spectroscopy, cometary sample analysis, and the search for universal biosignatures.