Summary
Questions concerning the significance of previous work on the formose reaction have led us to reexamine the question of the prebiotic synthesis of sugars. The results of new experiments lead to the following conclusions: The formose reaction is a geochemically plausible reaction which depends on neither basic conditions nor on the presence of trace amounts of carbohydrate impurities. However, this process is not a plausible source of ribose nor of any other individual sugar. In contrast to the nonspecific formation of complex mixtures of sugars via the formose reaction, the reduced sugar pentaerythritol is formed with great selectivity by the ultraviolet irradiation of 0.1 M formaldehyde. This compound may have played an important role in chemical evolution.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bricker CE, Johnson HR (1945) Spectrophotometric method for determining formaldehyde. Industrial Eng Chem 17:400–402
Butlerow A (1861) Bildung einer zuckerartigen Substanz durch Synthese. Annalen 120:295–298
Cairns-Smith AG, Ingram P, Walker GL (1972) Formose production by minerals: possible relevance to the origin of life. J Theor Biol 35:601–604
Decker P, Schweer H, Pohlmann R (1982) Bioids X. Identification of formose sugars, presumable prebiotic metabolites, using capillary gas chromatography/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of n-Butoxime trifluoroacetates on OV-225. J Chromat 244:281–291
Gabel NW, Ponnamperuma C (1967) Model for origin of monosaccharides. Nature 216:453–455
Irie S (1989) Selective formose reactions initiated by γ-irradiation. Carbohydrate Res 190:23–26
Joyce GF, Schwartz AW, Miller SL, Orgel LE (1987) The case for an ancestral genetic system involving simple analogues of the nucleotides. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84:4398–4402
Khomenko TI, Golovina OA, Sakharov MM, Partridge RD, Weiss AH (1976) Homogeneously catalyzed formaldehyde condensation to carbohydrates IV. Alkaline earth hydroxide catalysts. J Catalysis 45:356–366
Kieboom APG, Bekkum H van (1984) Aspects of the chemical conversion of glucose. Recl Trav Chim Pays-Bas 103:1–12
Mayer R, Jäschke (1960) Zur Umwandlung von Formaldehyd in Kohlenhydrate. Annalen 635:145–153
Medvedeva NG, Stanek Y, Yary I, Sukharevich VI (1990) Autocatalytic synthesis of carbohydrates from formaldehyde. J Appl Chem USSR (Plenum, 1990) Translation of: Zhurnal Prikladnoi Khimii 62(11):2557–2560 (1989)
Miller SL, Orgel LE (1974) The origins of life on the earth. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NY
Partridge RD, Weiss AH, Todd D (1972) Branched-chain carbohydrate structures resulting from formaldehyde condensation. Carbohyd Res 24:29–44
Pinto JP, Gladstone GR, Yung YL (1980) Photochemical production of formaldehyde in Earth's primitive atmosphere. Science 210:183–185
Reid C, Orgel LE (1967) Synthesis of sugars in potentially prebiotic conditions. Nature 216:455
Shapiro R (1988) Prebiotic ribose synthesis: A critical analysis. Origins Life 18:71–85
Shigemasa Y, Matsuda Y, Sakazawa C, Matsuura T (1977) Formose reactions II. The photochemical formose reaction. Bull Chem Soc Jpn 50:222–226
Socha RF (1980) The formose reaction: catalysis, mechanisms and networks. PhD Thesis (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich 8010959)
Socha RF, Weiss AH, Sakharov MM (1980) Autocatalysis in the formose reaction. React Kinet Catal Lett 14:119–124
Walker JF (1964) Formaldehyde. Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co, Huntington, NY 701 pp
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Offprint requests to: A.W. Schwartz
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schwartz, A.W., de Graaf, R.M. The prebiotic synthesis of carbohydrates: A reassessment. J Mol Evol 36, 101–106 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00166245
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00166245