HCN and chemical evolution: The possible role of cyano compounds in prebiotic synthesis

Prebiotic-chemistry inspired polymer coatings for biomedical and material science applications

“…Matthew's and Ferris' separate studies of HCN polymerization chemistry, as well as Sagan's and Khare's study of tholins, also involved the facile production of complex, highly colored organic polymers. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] They have also been considered as a potential source of amino acids, nucleobases and peptides on earth and appear to be common throughout our solar system. For example, these materials have been proposed to be the source of the distinctive orange, redbrown and black colors of comets and the atmosphere of planets and moons such as Saturn, Jupiter and Titan and carbonaceous meteorites, indicating their abundance in our solar system and the universe, respectively.…”

“…20 AMN, along with iminoacetonitrile, has received attention as an intermediate in the polymerization of hydrogen cyanide as well as a highly reactive synthon in heterocyclic organic synthesis. 7,11,13,[21][22][23] It is formally a trimer of hydrogen cyanide and spontaneously polymerizes when commercially available p-toluenesulfonate is neutralized (Figure 1b). 24 It allows easy access to HCN polymers under very mild and controllable conditions without the need to use HCN itself.…”

“…Hydrolysis experiments of the polymers result in the observation of amino acids with particularly significant amounts of glycine and polycyclic nitrogenous compounds such as purines and imidazole derivatives (Supplementary Figure S1). 9,11,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Because of these properties, we investigated the AMN polymer as a candidate for a new generic coating method that may be particularly useful in biomedical applications such as cell culture tools, providing high cell attachment and surface coatings on implantable medical devices providing enhanced tissue integration.…”

HCN polymers characterized by solid state NMR: Chains and sheets formed in the neat liquid

“…However, the structures of these polymers remain unknown despite extensive effort. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Figures 1 and 2 show the proposed polymer structures. The "ladder" structures in Fig.…”

Adsorção de aminoácidos sobre minerais e a origem da vida

“…Neste artigo vamos partir do pressuposto que aminoácidos existiam em uma quantidade razoável na Terra primitiva. Podemos considerar, com uma boa margem de segurança, que esta suposição esteja correta visto que aminoácidos são facilmente sintetizados em diversos ambientes da química prebiótica, tais como mistura gasosas tanto de atmosferas redutoras como oxidantes 2-5 ; reações em estado sólido 6 ; reações simulando fontes hidrotermais ou em meio aquoso [7][8][9][10][11] . Também devemos lembrar que cometas e meteoros podem ter contribuído com uma parcela dos aminoácidos existentes na Terra primitiva 12,13 .…”