Your knowledge of abiogenesis is at least fifty years out of date.
The current science theories of life and evolution uses two female goddesses, which are Lady Luck and Mother Nature; probability and natural selection. Natural selection sounds good, until you try to use the concept to predict the future. If we look only at the past, we can form patterns for natural selection in our imagination. But if these patterns were fully logical, the same logic should hold for the future. If not, the 20/20 hindsight of patterns is no more than just cataloging the past. Let us use mother nature to make a prediction. That's right Lady Luck and Mother Nature are not always on the same page; logic versus dice and cards. Mother Nature is sweet and maternal, but Lady Luck is a bimbo and appeals to the fellas, since she appears to offer anything your fantasy desires, but you also have to watch for whims of the goddess curveballs.
Evolution assumes life began at replicators, since this was the easiest place to start. But this claim has never shown any solid evidence of the first replicators. There are no fossils replicators, just active imagination of them, with lady luck in charge of fantasy. It is similar to dark energy and dark matter, which are also foundation premises, which also have never been seen in the lab. Science is watering itself down with lady luck mythology.
I prefer an approach without mythology. This approach needs a solid and tangible reference variable to gauge the rest.
Water is the chemical bookend of life. Water is the same today as it was before the earth formed. We can drink ancient water with no harmful effects. Water's anomalously high melting and boiling points, for a molecule so small, is testament to its unusually strong self binding power; self protection. All the data shows us that only the organics of life changed with time, with water still the same. This stable bookend is key to evolution. Evolution involves water staying the same; solid but dynamic foundation. It also was there for abiogenesis and kept going, never really changing.
Life in other solvents, all run into the bottleneck of the solvent being able to change with the structural components. Life in water can metabolize all the alternate organic solvents for life, with water still the last man standing. This stable bookend causes the 2nd law to target the organics in terms of increasing entropy; complexity. All the focus is on the organics. This is a natural design of Mother Nature without Lady Luck. Water can increase entropy but this is done via the hydrogen bonding, without altering the core H2O.
Photosynthesis will causes CO2 and Water to change into sugars. This lowers entropy and increases enthalpy. Inevitably water will come back to lower the free energy; metabolism increases entropy and lowers enthalpy. Metabolism is an expression of the 2nd law and was inevitable, once there was a pressure to change the water; photosynthesis. Amino acid incorporate water, while protein brings the water back, so a mechanism had to evolve.
The water and oil effect is also key since water and oil; organics, create various levels of surface tension. The term hydrophobic is a misnomer since organics do not fear water. Rather the hydrogen bonding based stability of water excludes the organics based on minimizing the potential of the water and then the system free energy. Even if water and organics minimize surface tension, there is still potential at the remaining water and organic surfaces. This helps provide the free energy needed for organic entropy to increase, since entropy increase needs energy; naturally energized organic catalytic surfaces.
The liquid state of water is also important to life. The gaseous state can only be under pressure, but not tension. We measure partial pressure of gases. Solids can be under tension and pressure but not both at the same time and reach steady state. Solids will move or rotate if both are applied at the same time; push and pull a car.
The liquid state is unusual in that if can be under both pressure and tension, at the same time and reach steady state. For example, an open glass of water under atmospheric pressure will also display surface tension with the air. Water can express this liquid state behavior internally through the binary polar/covalent bonding characteristics of its hydrogen bonds.
The polar setting of hydrogen bonds cause water to shrink in size creating local tension around itself. While the overlap of the covalent bonding orbitals cause an expansion of water that can create a zone of local pressure. Liquid water, via the hydrogen bonding binary, can push and pull the organics simply by altering its hydrogen bonding state. This is memory with muscle; volume changes, as well as free energy changes. Each setting in the binary also has opposing differences in entropy and enthalpy. Changes in the organic matrix can change the water settings, which can then be transmitted as information with muscle and energy through the water. While the hydrogen bonding matrix of water seeks to maximize itself for integrating effects.
One pivotal evolutionary changes within the water was connected to potassium and sodium ions. These two cations in water expanded the hydrogen bonding range of water. Sodium cations are kosmotropic or will cause more order in water than pure water creates for itself. Potassium cations in water are chaotropic or will create more disorder in water than pure water creates for itself. The pumping and exchange of these two cations allows water to exist in two extreme states inside and outside the cells; specialized zones. This also brings osmosis to the table which has a connection to the entropic or life force, to use old terminology.
Ions do not exist in water without layers of hydrated water encasing them.This makes the ion-water complexes are much larger than the ions. Water to minimize surface area and tension makes the cell membrane tight; permeable to water, but less so to the larger ion-water complexes. Gradients of ions, across the membrane can create an entropic potential with water left doing the work for both; generate osmotic pressure which is force/area; life force/area. The evolution of ion pumping and exchange quicken evolution since it added hydrogen bonding pressures to organics. This is even critical to consciousness with the brain's water responding and integrating ahead of the organics and ions.