Review
Formamide Chemistry and the Origin of Informational Polymers
Raffaele Saladino,
Claudia Crestini,
Fabiana Ciciriello,
Giovanna Costanzo,
Ernesto Di Mauro,
Raffaele Saladino
Dipartimento A. B. A. C., Università della Tuscia, Via San Camillo De Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo
Search for more papers by this authorClaudia Crestini
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università ‘Tor Vergata', I-00133 Rome
Search for more papers by this authorFabiana Ciciriello
Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, University ‘La Sapienza', P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome
Search for more papers by this authorGiovanna Costanzo
Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari, CNR, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome
Search for more papers by this authorErnesto Di Mauro
Fondazione ‘Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti', c/o Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Università ‘La Sapienza', P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome, (phone: +39 06 49912880; fax: +39 06 49912500)
Search for more papers by this authorRaffaele Saladino,
Claudia Crestini,
Fabiana Ciciriello,
Giovanna Costanzo,
Ernesto Di Mauro,
Raffaele Saladino
Dipartimento A. B. A. C., Università della Tuscia, Via San Camillo De Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo
Search for more papers by this authorClaudia Crestini
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università ‘Tor Vergata', I-00133 Rome
Search for more papers by this authorFabiana Ciciriello
Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, University ‘La Sapienza', P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome
Search for more papers by this authorGiovanna Costanzo
Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari, CNR, P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome
Search for more papers by this authorErnesto Di Mauro
Fondazione ‘Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti', c/o Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Università ‘La Sapienza', P.le Aldo Moro, 5, I-00185 Rome, (phone: +39 06 49912880; fax: +39 06 49912500)
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Formamide (HCONH2) provides a chemical frame potentially affording all the monomeric components necessary for the formation of nucleic polymers. In the presence of the appropriate catalysts, and by moderate heating, formamide yields a complete set of nucleic bases, acyclonucleosides, and favors both phosphorylations and transphosphorylations. Physico-chemical conditions exist in which formamide favors the stability of the phosphoester bonds in nucleic polymers more than that of the same bonds in monomers. This property establishes ‘thermodynamic niches’ in which the polymeric forms are favored. The hypothesis that these specific attributes of formamide allowed the onset of prebiotic chemical equilibria capable of Darwinian evolution is discussed.
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