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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps the answer is in this article: "Therefore, the question is: what matter may life on the planet be built on? We consider chemical compounds stable at high temperatures that may be a base for hypothetical Venusian life. We conclude that to explore Venus's hypothetical life, a new dedicated mission, much more advanced than the VENERA missions, should be sent to the planet." Article "Hypothetical signs of life on Venus: revising results of 1975 – 1982 TV experiments" L V Ksanfomality, L M Zelenyi, V N Parmon and V N Snytnikov © 2019 $\endgroup$
    – A. Rumlin
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 17:10
  • $\begingroup$ Interesting take, although the current focus is away from the high temperature conditions. That being so, if somehow there were non-carbon based life on Venus then we'd miss it looking for the usual organic compounds. $\endgroup$
    – Oscar Lanzi
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 17:14
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    $\begingroup$ From the article in Nature named "Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus' : "We also rule out the formation of phosphorous acid ($H_3PO_3$). While phosphorous acid can disproportionate to PH3 on heating, its formation under Venus temperatures and pressures would require quite unrealistic conditions, such as an atmosphere composed almost entirely of hydrogen..." $\endgroup$
    – Cornelis
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 9:40
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    $\begingroup$ @Cornelisinspace I read that as saying they adopted the overall elemental phosphorus abundance data, but not the assumptions about the specific chemicals involved (P4O6, etc) - "its chemical speciation is not known". $\endgroup$
    – Andrew is gone
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 12:33
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, so I read the ref. 1 again that tells us P4O6 with the sulfuric acid droplets transforms it into phosphoric acid droplets with SO2 release . Couldn't that transform the phosphorus into the +5 oxidation state ? And after that the droplets move down to 25 km where evaporation into P4O10 (P2O5) would occur. $\endgroup$
    – Cornelis
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 15:40