Cover Picture: Synthesis and Degradation of Nucleobases and Nucleic Acids by Formamide in the Presence of Montmorillonites (ChemBioChem 11/2004)

Abstract

The cover picture shows the synthesis of several components of nucleic acids in prebiotic conditions. Purine, N9‐formylpurine, adenine, cytosine, uracil, hypoxanthine and several intermediates of the inosine pathway are obtained in “one‐pot” synthesis by heating a one‐carbon‐atom fragment, as simple as formamide, in the presence of Montmorillonite clays. The reactivity of the oligonucleotide backbone with formamide is also affected by Montmorillonites due to a modification of the rate of abstraction of the protons on the sugar moieties. Montmorillonites—so far considered as primitive enzymes mostly because of their catalytic function on the aldol condensation of formaldehyde into sugars—were in the position to play a protagonist role in origin‐of‐life scenarios. More details on this study by E. Di Mauro et al. can be found on p. 1558 ff