title: Formation of peptides in the dry state.
abstract: Although many potential pathways exist for the prebiotic condensation of amino acids to form simple peptides, minimal conditions for such a reaction in the dry state have yet to be defined. In this work, water was evaporated from a solution of alanine and copper chloride (CuCl2), creating a dry residue. Incubation of this residue at moderate temperatures over 25 days produced even greater amounts of di-alanine, as determined by high performance liquid chromatographic characterization of the re-dissolved residue. Copper(II) and chloride were required for the reaction and di-peptide yields were highest for 1:2 molar ratios of copper:alanine. These results define minimal conditions for a dry-state pathway that plausibly played a role in the prebiotic formation of simple peptides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1607, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Napier
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000737:chemistry*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D000069497:Origin of Life; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D014867:Water; D003300:Copper; D000409:Alanine