Conditions for Purine Synthesis: Did Prebiotic Synthesis Occur at Low Temperatures?
- 1 July 1966
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 153 (3731), 72-73
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.153.3731.72
Abstract
The rate of polymerization of hydrogen cyanide to aminomalononitrile and the tetramer, diaminomalonodinitrile, is quadratic in the total cyanide concentration. Since the reactions form part of a plausible prebiotic purine synthesis and since they compete with hydrolysis, concentration of cyanide may have been important. This may be achieved usefully by cooling to separate out ice.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fast Reactions of Ascorbic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide in Ice, a Presumptive Early EnvironmentScience, 1965
- Aminomalononitrile and 4-Amino-5-cyanoimidazole in Hydrogen Cyanide Polymerization and Adenine Synthesis1Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1965
- Synthesis of Organic Compounds by High-Energy ElectronsNature, 1963
- Synthesis of purines under possible primitive earth conditions. I. Adenine from hydrogen cyanideArchives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 1961
- The hydrolysis and polymerization of hydrogen cyanide in alkaline solutionsJournal of Applied Chemistry, 1957