“Chemical evolution”, as Calvin christened the discipline,'refers to the study of the chemical
processes that preceded the appearance of life on the primitive earth. Implicit in this …

The copying of short DNA or RNA sequences in the absence of enzymes is a fascinating
reaction that has been studied in the context of prebiotic chemistry. It involves the …

Several important prebiotic reactions, including the coupling of amino acids into
polypeptides by the formation of amide linkages, involve acylation. Theae reactions present …

Peptide synthesis from amino acids has been shown to occur in aqueous solutions at high
concentrations of sodium chloride and in the presence of Cu (ll) after several days at 85 C …

The recently reported condensation reaction of glycine to di-and triglycine in aqueous
solution in the presence of higher concentrations of sodium chloride and copper ions has …

The abiotic polymerization of amino acids may have been important for the origin of life, as
peptides may have been components of the first self-replicating systems. Though amino acid …

Several studies have proven the ability of montmorillonite to catalyse amino acid
condensation under assumed prebiotic conditions, simulating wetting-drying cycles. In this …

The formation of biopolymers in prebiotic environments is still unresolved regarding nucleic
acids and functional peptides. Peptide function especially requires proper folding and hence …

Origins-of-life chemical experiments usually aim to produce specific chemical end-products
such as amino acids, nucleic acids or sugars. The resulting chemical systems do not evolve …

Though diketopiperazines (DKP) are formed in most experiments concerning the prebiotic
peptide formation, the molecules have not been paid attention in the studies of chemical …