Amino Acid Synthesis by Glow Discharge Electrolysis: A Possible Route for Prebiotic Synthesis of Amino Acids

Abstract

A considerable number of studies on the formation of amino acids under inferred prebiotic conditions using various organic and inorganic compounds have been reported in the past twenty years. In these studies, several elegant analytical methods, developed since the early 1950s, have played a crucial role in amino acid analyses from these complex reaction products. Amino acids were synthesized from gas mixtures by applying various types of energy, such as electric discharge, ultraviolet rays, ionizing radiation, thermal energy, and other sources such as shock waves. Amino acids were also synthesized from chemically reactive compounds such as hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, and ammonia. These accumulated results indicate that the formation of amino acids occurs rather easily, in many ways, under various inferred prebiotic conditions.