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Simultaneous Nucleotide Activation and Synthesis of Amino Acid Amides by a Potentially Prebiotic Multi‐Component Reaction
Author(s) -
Mullen Lee B.,
Sutherland John D.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200702870
Subject(s) - yield (engineering) , nucleotide , prebiotic , amide , amino acid , rna , chemistry , component (thermodynamics) , ammonia , isocyanide , combinatorial chemistry , biochemistry , organic chemistry , gene , materials science , physics , metallurgy , thermodynamics
Prebiotic building blocks—two for the price of one : In water at nearly neutral pH values, the assembly of an isocyanide, an aldehyde, and ammonia into an amino acid amide is facilitated by a nucleotide. In this process, the nucleotide is activated. The production of building blocks for both RNA and proteins in one high‐yield reaction suggests a possible link between these macromolecules in the origin of life.