S. Pitsch et al., MINERAL INDUCED FORMATION OF SUGAR PHOSPHATES .15. CHEMISTRY OF ALPHA-AMINONITRILE FROM THE ZURICH GROUP, Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere, 25(4), 1995, pp. 297-334
Glycolaldehyde phosphate, sorbed from highly dilute, weakly alkaline s
olution into the interlayer of common expanding sheet structure metal
hydroxide minerals, condenses extensively to racemic aldotetrose-2,4-d
iphosphates and aldohexose-2,4,6-triphosphates. The reaction proceeds
mainly through racemic erythrose-2,4-phosphate, and terminates with a
large fraction of racemic altrose-2,4,6-phosphate. In the absence of a
n inductive mineral phase, no detectable homogeneous reaction takes pl
ace in the concentration- and pH range used. The reactant glycolaldehy
de phosphate is practically completely sorbed within an hour from solu
tions with concentrations as low as 50 mu m; the half-time for convers
ion to hexose phosphates is of the order of two days at room temperatu
re and pH 9.5. Total production of sugar phosphates in the mineral int
erlayer is largely independent of the glycolaldehyde phosphate concent
ration in the external solution, but is determined by the total amount
of GAP offered for sorption up to the capacity of the mineral. In the
presence of equimolar amounts of rac-glyceraldehyde-2-phosphate, but
under otherwise similar conditions, aldopentose-2,4,-diphosphates also
form, but only as a small fraction of the hexose-2,4,6-phosphates.