Abstract
The only successful syntheses so far reported for the prebiotic formation of oligodeoxyribonucleotides involve the condensation, under warm aqueous conditions of deoxythymidine 5’-phosphate, using either cyanamide (Ibañez et al., 1971a, b) or imidazole (Ibañez et al., 1971b, c) as catalysts. In both condensations, oligomers of up to five units in length were obtained, but the total yields were less than 2%. The majority of syntheses which have led to the formation of oligoribonucleotides have been conducted under drying conditions at relatively high or moderate temperatures, the latter simulating the effects resulting from the drying up of primeval lakes and ocean beds (Moravek et al., 1968a, b, c; Tapiero and Nagyvary, 1971; Osterberg et al., 1973). In view of the success of these reactions it was decided to continue our work on the synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides and to study the effects of drying conditions on the formation of these compounds.
Reprinted by permission from the Journal of Molecular Evolution (1974) © Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.
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© 1974 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Stephen-Sherwood, E., Odom, D.G., Oró, J. (1974). The Prebiotic Synthesis of Deoxythymidine Oligonucleotides. In: Oró, J., Miller, S.L., Ponnamperuma, C., Young, R.S. (eds) Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2282-8_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2282-8_36
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