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Formation of amino acids from NH 3 /NO 2 , CO 2 and H 2 O: Implications for the prebiotic origin of biomolecules
Author(s) -
Singh Amrinder,
Singh Palwinder
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.7303
Subject(s) - chemistry , amino acid , biomolecule , mass spectrometry , acetonitrile , formic acid , quadrupole mass analyzer , ammonium , electrospray ionization , abiogenesis , organic chemistry , chromatography , astrobiology , biochemistry , physics
Rationale The search for the conditions which must have prevailed in the long‐distant past during the conversion of inanimate matter into animate matter is a fascinating area of research and it continues to draw the attention of the scientific community. The initiation of life on this planet must have been preceded by the development of biomolecules, amongst which amino acids have unique importance. Formation of amino acids under a certain set of conditions is shown in the present experiments. Methods Solutions of ammonium carboxylates or the mixture of two such salts were prepared in 3:6.9:0.1 (v/v/v) acetonitrile/water/formic acid at a concentration of 50 μM. The studies were performed using a quadrupole time‐of‐flight (QqTOF) mass spectrometer. The formation of different amino acids was detected with high‐resolution mass spectrometry. Results Here, we show the formation of amino acids when a solution of ammonium salts was injected into an electrospray ionization (ESI)‐QqTOF‐MS instrument. The ammonium salts were the source of NH 3 and CO 2 and H 2 O was available in the medium. It seems that the combination of NH 3 , CO 2 , and H 2 O leads to the formation of amino acids. Conclusions Further to the literature reports of formation of amino acids under the reduced atmosphere represented by gases such as NH 3 , CH 4 , H 2 and H 2 O, here we demonstrate the formation of amino acids by the combination of NH 3 /NO 2 , CO 2 and water vapours in the ESI source of the mass spectrometer. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.