title: Thermal synthesis of nucleoside H-phosphonates under mild conditions.
abstract: Nucleosides react rapidly with ammonium phosphite ((NH4)2HPO3) at 60 degrees C to produce good yields of nucleoside-5'-phosphite monoesters within 24 h. Under the same conditions, ammonium phosphate is unreactive, producing low yields of nucleotide only after extended reactions. These results confirm earlier suggestions that nucleoside H-phosphonates and their possible condensation products may have been produced on the primitive earth more easily than nucleotides.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology Research Group, Faculty of Science, University of Nijmegen, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: De Graaf
authors.forename: Alan W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D006358:Hot Temperature; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009705:Nucleosides / Q000737:chemistry; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D063065:Organophosphonates / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D017905:Phosphites / Q000737:chemistry; D010766:Phosphorylation; D014529:Uridine / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009705:Nucleosides; D009711:Nucleotides; D063065:Organophosphonates; D017905:Phosphites; D014529:Uridine