Prebiotic peptide-formation in the solid state

Abstract
When a solution containing gly-N-pA and imidazole is evaporated to dryness and then maintained at a temperature between 65°C and 100°C, high yields of AppA and oligoglycines are obtained. We believe that ImpA is formed first, and then activates the carboxyl group of glycine or gly-N-pA. If glycine, ATP or AppA, and imidazole are heated together in the solid state, ImpA is formed directly from imidazole and ATP, or in-directly from imidazole and gly-N-pA. Next the carboxyl group of glycine is activated by the ImpA formed in situ. The subsequent reactions of activated glycine leads to the formation of oligoglycines and the 2′ (3′)-glycylester of pA. Under plausible prebiobic conditions, good yields of oligoglycines up to the octamer can be obtained from glycine, ATP and imidazole.