Peptide bond formation in gas-phase ion/molecule reactions of amino acids:a novel proposal for the synthesis of prebiotic oligopeptides

There is a general fascination with regard to the origin of life on Earth. There is an intriguing possibility that prebiotic precursors of life occurr ed in the interstellar space and were then transported to the early Earth b y comets, asteroids and meteorites. It is probable that some part of the pr ebiotic molecules may have been generated by gas-phase ion/molecule reactio ns, Here we show experimentally that gaseous ion/molecule reactions of the amino acids, Glu and Met, may promote the synthesis of protonated dipeptide s such as (Glu-Glu)H+ and (Glu-Met)H+ and their chemical growth to larger p rotonated peptides. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.