Prebiotic Route to Thymine from Formamide—A Combined Experimental–Theoretical Study

Petera, Lukáš; Mráziková, Klaudia; Nejdl, Lukáš; Zemánková, Kristýna; Vaculovičová, Markéta; Pastorek, Adam; Civiš, Svatopluk; Kubelík, Petr; Heays, A. N.; Cassone, Giuseppe; Šponer, Jiřı́; Ferus, Martin; Šponer, Judit E.

doi:10.3390/molecules26082248

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 33 publications

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“…For example, thermal decomposition of formamide in vacuum leads to a mixture of nucleic bases purine, cytosine, adenine, as well as hypoxanthine, pterin, urea, urocanic acid, glycine, alanine, and norvaline (Enchev et al, 2021). The formation of the nucleic bases, uracil and thymine, was observed on heating formamide at 160 °C for a day (Petera et al, 2021); similar events though varying kinetically, are envisaged in galactic chimneys. Though many prebiotic precursors are observed in the ISM, it does not prove any sign of extraterrestrial life.…”

Section: Methanol a Key Synthon Toward Complex Organic Moleculesmentioning

confidence: 90%

Methanol in the RNA world: An astrochemical perspective

Mathew

Esteves²,

Prakash³

2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The role and relevance of methanol in the origin and structure of the RNA world is discussed. Methanol is a pivotal, renewable, and regenerable source from which almost all chemical materials, simple or complex, can be accessed. Olefins and carbonyl compounds, amines and amino acids, peptides and polypeptides, and the molecular building blocks in the initial stages of the biological evolution to life’s origin are obtained through methanol as a source material by its chemical transformation. The formation of methanol, whether in stellar and interstellar media, in deep sea-bottom hot hydrothermal vents or from geothermal sources, results from CO2 hydrogenation. It is the basic reaction, setting the stage for the formation of fundamental “organic” building blocks for the formation of simple prebiotic cells to subsequent biological evolution to cells. The important observation of many organics– hydrocarbons and ions including the large expanse of methane and methanol in the interstellar medium and stellar peripheries is a clear indication of “stellar reductive processes” and ensuing reactions shedding light on the probable significant role of extraterrestrial methanol as the basic source material toward a multi-step transformation into complex life molecules such as RNA.

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Section: Methanol a Key Synthon Toward Complex Organic Moleculesmentioning

confidence: 90%

Methanol in the RNA world: An astrochemical perspective

Mathew

Esteves²,

Prakash³

2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Numerical modeling vs experiment of formic acid and formate ion behavior under gamma radiation at several pH values: Implications on prebiotic chemistry

Paredes-Arriaga,

López-Islas,

Frias

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Formic acid is consistently produced and detected in prebiotic chemistry experiments, constituting a precursor of many carboxylic acids and amino acids. Its behavior with exposure to gamma radiation varies with the pH and solution concentration. This work aimed to model different environmental conditions for formic acid under ionizing radiation using a system of coupled differential equations based on chemical kinetics. An ensemble of radiolysis reaction mechanisms was generated for formic acid at pH 1.5 and formate ion at pH 9, both with radiation doses from 0 to 2 kGy. This was also done for systems with both species in equilibrium, using high molar concentrations, long irradiation times, and large irradiation doses (from 0 to 70 kGy). The results show that these systems can be modeled with a high statistical relationship between the computed solutions and the experimental data; furthermore, the synthesis and degradation of the radiolysis products can be followed. Another dimension of the issue of prebiotic environments was explored using ionizing radiation and analyzing the reactions at various pH values (acidic to basic media). These models allow one to gain insights into the behavior of molecules that are difficult to detect or analyze in the laboratory. Additionally, they offer the possibility of studying potential prebiotic environments.

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Prebiotic Route to Thymine from Formamide—A Combined Experimental–Theoretical Study

Cited by 2 publications

References 33 publications

Methanol in the RNA world: An astrochemical perspective

Methanol in the RNA world: An astrochemical perspective

Numerical modeling vs experiment of formic acid and formate ion behavior under gamma radiation at several pH values: Implications on prebiotic chemistry

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