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One-Carbon Compounds in the Prebiotic Syntheses of Biomolecules

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Molecular Evolution and Protobiology

Abstract

The main one-carbon compounds that may have participated in the primitive Earth’s chemical syntheses are methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, formic acid, formamide, hydrogen cyanide, cyanamide and urea. Except urea, all these compounds are also known to be present in the atmosphere of other planets or in interstellar dust clouds. Some other one-carbon species detected in interstellar medium include methylidyne (CH), methylidyne ion (CH+), cyanogen radical (CN), hydrogen isocyanide (HNC), formyl radical (HCO), formyl ion (HCO+), methyl alcohol (CH3OH), isocyanic acid (HNCO), carbon monosulfide (CS), carbonyl sulfide (OCS) and thioformaldehyde (H2CS). In addition, methyne (CH2), CO +2 and CO+ have been detected in comets (Oro, 1972; Schwartz, 1981). These highly reactive species are not found in the atmosphere, geosphere, or hydrosphere of the earth, and as such may not have played any significant role in the prebiotic chemistry of our planet--except to form relatively more stable compounds, if they did exist for very short periods.

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  1. Bio-Organic Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Bombay, 400 085, India

    A. S. U. Choughuley

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  1. A. S. U. Choughuley
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  1. Technological University of Nagaoka, Nagaoka, Japan

    Koichiro Matsuno

  2. J. Gutenberg University, Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany

    Klaus Dose

  3. University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Kaoru Harada

  4. University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

    Duane L. Rohlfing

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Choughuley, A.S.U. (1984). One-Carbon Compounds in the Prebiotic Syntheses of Biomolecules. In: Matsuno, K., Dose, K., Harada, K., Rohlfing, D.L. (eds) Molecular Evolution and Protobiology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4640-1_7

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