Hydrogen Cyanide Polymers as Prebiotic Sources of Biological Compounds in Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Environments

Abstract

AbstractAqueous solutions of cyanides are frequently used in experiments related to prebiotic chemistry. CNcontaining molecules are key compounds in this type of synthesis. This is due to the high chemical reactivity of the CN group, their abundance in the interstellar space, in comets, and the facility of their formation from simulated experiments. Implications for prebiotic chemistry are profound mainly because these polymeric materials upon hydrolysis release compounds of biological significance such as amino acids, purines, carboxylic acids, etc. Since the products formed from a CN-containing compound have different chemical groups, and a great variety of molecular weights, the potentiality and versatility for prebiotic synthesis is enormous. The gamma irradiation of very diluted aqueous solutions of HCN yields oligomeric material among the radiolytic products. These oligomers are constituted of polyamides and substituted ureas. However, radiation-induced polymers have different characteristics than the polymers formed by thermal polymerization.