Prebiotic chemistry: a review of nucleoside phosphorylation and polymerization

Abstract

The phosphorylation of nucleosides and their polymerization are crucial issues concerning the origin of life. The question of how these plausible chemical processes took place in the prebiotic Earth is still perplexing, despite several studies that have attempted to explain these prebiotic processes. The purpose of this article is to review these chemical reactions with respect to chemical evolution in the primeval Earth. Meanwhile, from our perspective, the chiral properties and selection of biomolecules should be considered in the prebiotic chemical origin of life, which may contribute to further research in this field to some extent.