Prebiotic chemistry: a review of nucleoside phosphorylation and polymerization

The phosphorylation of nucleosides and their polymerization are crucial issues concerning the origin of life. The question of how these plausible chemical processes took place in the prebiotic Earth is still perplexing, despite several studies that have attempted to explain these prebiotic processes. The purpose of this article is to review these chemical reactions with respect to chemical evolution in the primeval Earth. Meanwhile, from our perspective, the chiral properties and selection of biomolecules should be considered in the prebiotic chemical origin of life, which may contribute to further research in this field to some extent.

Chemistry of Abiotic Nucleotide Synthesis

The chemistry of abiotic nucleotide synthesis of RNA and DNA in the context of their prebiotic origins on early earth is a continuing challenge. How did (or how can) the nucleotides form and assemble from the small molecule inventories and under conditions that prevailed on early earth 3.5-4 billion years ago? This review provides a background and up-to-date progress that will allow the reader to judge where the field stands currently and what remains to be achieved. We start with a brief primer on the biological synthesis of nucleotides, followed by an extensive focus on the prebiotic formation of the components of nucleotides-either via the synthesis of ribose and the canonical nucleobases and then joining them together or by building both the conjoined sugar and nucleobase, part-by-part-toward the ultimate goal of forming RNA and DNA by polymerization. The review will emphasize that there are-and will continue to be-many more questions than answers from the synthetic, mechanistic, and analytical perspectives. We wrap up the review with a cautionary note in this context about coming to conclusions as to whether the problem of chemistry of prebiotic nucleotide synthesis has been solved.

Montmorillonite-catalysed formation of RNA oligomers: the possible role of catalysis in the origins of life

Large deposits of montmorillonite are present on the Earth today and it is believed to have been present at the time of the origin of life and has recently been detected on Mars. It is formed by aqueous weathering of volcanic ash. It catalyses the formation of oligomers of RNA that contain monomer units from 2 to 30-50. Oligomers of this length are formed because this catalyst controls the structure of the oligomers formed and does not generate all possible isomers. Evidence of sequence-, regio- and homochiral selectivity in these oligomers has been obtained. Postulates on the role of selective versus specific catalysts on the origins of life are discussed. An introduction to the origin of life is given with an emphasis on reaction conditions based on the recent data obtained from zircons 4.0-4.5Ga.