Formation of L Amino Acids and D Sugars, and Amplification of their Enantioexcesses in Aqueous Solutions, Under Simulated Prebiotic Conditions

The Murchison meteorite delivered five α‐methyl amino acids to Earth with small excesses of the L enantiomer; later, additional examples were found and such compounds were also found in other meteorites. I describe our work using them under prebiotic conditions to form normal proteinogenic amino acids with an excess of the L enantiomers, and to amplify such excesses to dominant concentration in solution. I also extend this work to show how D sugars, such as D ‐ribose, can have been formed and amplified in solution. I also show the high concentration amplifications of D ‐nucleosides that can be obtained under credible prebiotic conditions. The simple theory of such amplifications, and corrections resulting from solvation effects, are described along with modern ideas of the source of such α‐methyl amino acids in meteorites.