If you heat up formic acid or oxalic acid in a metal container at a high temperature for a couple of days, it can turn into a bunch of oily, waxy, or fatty substances similar to those found in living things.

If you heat up two simple acids—formic acid and oxalic acid—in a hot, pressurized water environment, they both make the same kind of fatty molecules, so either one could work as a starting material to make these lipids.