The Formation of Amino Acids and Related Oligomers from Formaldehyde and Hydroxylamine in Modified Sea Mediums Related to Prebiotic Conditions

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Abstract
Amino acids and related oligomers were produced from formaldehyde and hydroxylamine in modified sea mediums at pH 5.5 and 105 °C. The modified sea mediums are characterized by a lower concentration of sodium chloride and a higher concentration of essential transition metal ions (Zn2+, Mo6+ as MoO42−, Fe3+, Cu2+, Co2+, and Mn2+) than in sea water; generally small amounts of clays (kaolin and montmorillonite) were added. About 40 species of amino acids were detected in the automatic amino acid analyzer, and 20 of them were tentatively assigned. Glycine, alanine, and serine among the protein amino acids and β-alanine were further confirmed by thin-layer chromatography. Oligomers with molecular weights of about 200–1000 were produced which gave rise to an amino acid mixture by acid hydrolysis. From the ratio (maximum, about 5) of the content of the amino groups after to before hydrolysis and the molecular size, the oligomers were tentatively regarded as oligopeptides of an unknown nature, resistant to pronase digestion. The large-molecular fraction (M. W. about 700) had a phosphatase-like activity able to hydrolyze p-nitrophenyl phosphate.