title: Nucleic acid analogues and the origins of replication.
abstract: Recent interest in the properties of "nucleic acid-like structures" has been stimulated by difficulties encountered in the synthesis and nonenzymatic oligomerization of nucleotides.  However, none of the newly proposed monomers has yet been synthesized in a plausibly prebiotic manner.  Arguments are presented that analogues based on 8-hydroxymethyladenine and  5-hydroxymethyluracil are promising candidates for primitive nucleotide precursors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Exobiology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D006147:Guanine / Q000737:chemistry*; D006856:Hydrogen Cyanide / Q000737:chemistry; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010432:Pentoxyl / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000138:chemical synthesis
chemical_list: D006856:Hydrogen Cyanide; C008055:5-hydroxymethyluracil; D006147:Guanine; D010432:Pentoxyl; D004247:DNA; D000225:Adenine