ISSN:
1432-1432
Keywords:
Prebiotic His synthesis
;
Erythrose
;
Imidazole-4-acetaldehyde
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary The prebiotic formation of histidine (His) has been accomplished experimentally by the reacton of erythrose with formamidine followed by a Strecker synthesis. In the first step of this reaction sequence, the formation of imidazole-4-acetaldehyde took place by the condensation of erythrose and formamidine, two compounds that are known to be formed under prebiotic conditions. In a second step, the imidazole-4-acetaldehyde was converted to His, without isolation of the reaction products by adding HCN and ammonia to the reaction mixture. LC, HPLC, thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and tandem mass spectrometry were used to identify the product, which was obtained in a yield of 3.5% based on the ratio of His/erythrose. This is a new chemical synthesis of one of the basic amino acids which has not been synthesized prebiotically until now.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02109492
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