The Effects of Borate Minerals on the Synthesis of Nucleic Acid Bases, Amino Acids and Biogenic Carboxylic Acids from Formamide

Overview

Journal Orig Life Evol Biosph

Specialties Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2011 Mar 23

PMID 21424401

Citations 16

Authors

Raffaele Saladino

Maurizio Barontini

Cristina Cossetti

Ernesto Di Mauro

Claudia Crestini

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The thermal condensation of formamide in the presence of mineral borates is reported. The products afforded are precursors of nucleic acids, amino acids derivatives and carboxylic acids. The efficiency and the selectivity of the reaction was studied in relation to the elemental composition of the 18 minerals analyzed. The possibility of synthesizing at the same time building blocks of both genetic and metabolic apparatuses, along with the production of amino acids, highlights the interest of the formamide/borate system in prebiotic chemistry.

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