Conditions for Purine Synthesis: Did Prebiotic Synthesis Occur at Low Temperatures?
- 1 July 1966
- journal article
- research article
- 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.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 Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 1957