The steps towards understanding what elements lead to the formation of amino acids/peptides is almost fully known. It is the step from amino acids to more complex entities like replicating RNA and proteins, that remains shrouded in mystery. For a quite complete overview on the current state of things check this out lecture by Jack Szostak. I have written about the dominant theory in systems chemistry to describe self-organizing organic compounds. You can check it out here.Has there been any further elucidation upon what elements or compounds present that would lead to the formation of amino acids/peptides/enzymes?
I remember reading recently about a younger chemist who got kind of famous recently working on self-assembling organic molecules and thought that they contained the necessary properties to "evolve" in some capacity, do you know much about this and what, if any, influence it has had?