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A Self‐Replicating System from Three Starting Materials
Author(s) -
Achilles Thomas,
von Kiedrowski Günter
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.199311981
Subject(s) - pentamer , random hexamer , tetramer , autocatalysis , monomer , chemistry , carbodiimide , crystallography , catalysis , stereochemistry , polymer chemistry , biochemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , enzyme
The reaction scheme may resemble a circuit diagram , but it actually represents a self‐replicating system consisting of a trimeric, a dimeric, and a monomeric building block. The trimeric to hexameric deoxynucleotide derivatives arise in the presence of a carbodiimide and exhibit catalytic, cross‐catalytic, and autocatalytic template effects that feed back into the various synthesis pathways. The major product is a tetramer that is formed preferably in a nonautocatalytic reaction path. In the autocatalytic pathway this product is exclusively “egoistic”, whereas the pentamer and hexamer enter into an “altruistic” relationship and “socialize” (i.e. thus behave as a molecular ensemble).