title: Exploratory studies to investigate a linked prebiotic origin of RNA and coded peptides. 2nd communication. Derivation and reactivity of xylose phosphates.
abstract: The potentially prebiotic synthesis of ribo-nucleotides by stepwise pyrimidine nucleobase assembly on arabinose-3-phosphate derivatives has been demonstrated in previous work. Consideration of the provenance of pentose phosphates, by aldolisation or sugar phosphorylation, suggested that 2-phosphate derivatives might be generated more easily than 3-phosphate derivatives. In the 2-phosphate series, nucleobase-assembly chemistry to give ribo-nucleotides/nucleic acid can be envisaged from xylo-configured starting materials. In this paper, the derivation of xylose-2-phosphate derivatives by aldol chemistry and attempts to demonstrate subsequent pyrimidine nucleobase assembly are reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Vinciane
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Borsenberger
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raftery
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sutherland
mesh_terms: D010428:Pentosephosphates / Q000737:chemistry; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010710:Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D014994:Xylose / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010428:Pentosephosphates; D010455:Peptides; D010710:Phosphates; D012313:RNA; D014994:Xylose