A possible prebiotic synthesis of purine, adenine, cytosine, and 4(3H)-pyrimidinone from formamide: Implications for the origin of life

The synthesis of prebiotic molecules is a major problem in chemical evoluti on as well as in any origin-of-life theory. We report here a plausible new prebiotic synthesis of naturally occurring purine and pyrimidine derivative s from formamide under catalytic conditions. In the presence of CaCO3 and d ifferent inorganic oxides, namely silica, alumine, kaolin, and zeolite (Y t ype), neat formamide undergoes the formation of purine, adenine, cytosine, and 4(3H)-pyrimidinone, from acceptable to good yields. The role of catalys ts showed to be not limited to the improvement of the yield but it is also relevant in providing a high selectivity in the products distribution. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.