Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1969 · 35 citations · 13 references
Natural SciencesBiochemistryChemistryNatural Product BiosynthesisOrganic ChemistryProtein BiochemistryAmino Acid ChemistryChemical EvolutionNitrogen CyclePeptide ChemistryPrebiotic ChemistryProtein SynthesisAmino Acid DerivationAmino Acid Synthesis PathwaysAmino AcidsHydrogen Cyanide ChemistryMechanism Of Peptide Bond FormationPeptide ProductionPrebiotic Synthesis Of Amino AcidsPrimordial Waters
Chemical evolution on the primitive earth must have involved condensation of alpha-amino acids to peptides. Under aqueous conditions consistent with current conceptions of primordial waters, heating glycerine with the hydrogen cyanide tetramer, diaminomaleonitrile, yields dipeptide. If nitrogen was cycled through primordial waters as cyanide, peptide synthesis by stepwise tetramer-mediated condensation of alpha-amino acids would have been a plausible process.
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CHEMICAL EVENTS ON THE PRIMITIVE EARTH
Philip H. Abelson · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1966 · 271 citations · Full text