Alternating co-synthesis of glycol nucleic acid (GNA) monomers with dicarboxylic acids via drying

Ruiqin Yi; Tony Z Jia; Markus Meringer; Luke K Marshall; Chen Chen; Shawn Erin McGlynn; Albert C Fahrenbach; H James Cleaves 2nd

doi:10.1039/d2cc06818d

Alternating co-synthesis of glycol nucleic acid (GNA) monomers with dicarboxylic acids via drying

Chem Commun (Camb). 2023 Jun 1;59(45):6865-6868. doi: 10.1039/d2cc06818d.

Authors

Ruiqin Yi¹, Tony Z Jia^{1

2}, Markus Meringer³, Luke K Marshall⁴, Chen Chen¹, Shawn Erin McGlynn¹, Albert C Fahrenbach⁴, H James Cleaves 2nd^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan. yiruiqin@elsi.jp.
² Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA 98154, USA.
³ Earth Observation Center, German Aerospace Center, Oberpfaffenhofen - Wessling, Germany.
⁴ School of Chemistry, Australian Centre for Astrobiology and the UNSW RNA Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

PMID: 37195424
DOI: 10.1039/d2cc06818d

Abstract

We report the co-polymerization of glycol nucleic acid (GNA) monomers with unsubstituted and substituted dicarboxylic acid linkers under plausible early Earth aqueous dry-down conditions. Both linear and branched co-polymers are produced. Mechanistic aspects of the reaction and potential roles of these polymers in prebiotic chemistry are discussed.