Cover Feature: Water Chemistry at the Nanoscale: Clues for Resolving the “Water Paradox” Underlying the Emergence of Life (ChemistryEurope 6/2024)

The Cover Feature illustrates the unique properties of nanoconfined water that can facilitate condensation reactions, potentially leading to the formation of biopolymers in submarine hydrothermal vents. In confined nanospace, the arrangement of water molecules changes significantly, lowering the dielectric constant of water and modulating the enthalpy–entropy correlation of chemical reactions. Due to these altered properties, layered minerals with confined nanospace drive enzyme-like condensation reactions. In this Concept (DOI: 10.1002/ceur.202400038), H.-E. Lee, M. Russell and R. Nakamura explore these possibilities, offering a clue to resolving the “water paradox” in the origin of life and an innovative use of nanoconfined water as a greener solvent for polymerization chemistry.