The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Prebiotic selection and assembly of proteinogenic amino acids and natural nucleotides from complex mixtures
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“This is in stark contrast to GCA, which undergoes the Strecker reaction in excellent yield to afford a stable aminonitrile product, Ser-CN (fig. S2) (23, 24).”
From Prebiotic synthesis of cysteine peptides that catalyze peptide ligation in neutral water (2020) · cites this paper as [23]
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“Other difficulty that arise in this context is the possible intramolecular imidolactone formation (10) by larger cyanohydrins (from parent triose, tetrose and pentose sugars; e.g., 9), which conduces to their consumption and hydrolysis into the homologous carboxylic acids (12) (Scheme 7, inbox).97”
From The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry (2023) · cites this paper as [97]
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“However, glycolaldehyde and glyceraldehyde can react with 2-aminothiazole to give the corresponding aminals, which selectively precipitate to give crystalline reservoirs of these key intermediates (Islam et al. 2017).”
From Protocells and RNA Self-Replication (2018) · cites this paper as Islam et al. 2017
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“This scenario relies on two main monomers, formaldehyde and HCN, to produce glyconitrile, plus the action of schreibersite ((Fe, Ni) 3P), hydrosulfide (HS−) as reducing agent, copper and ultraviolet light, to promote the homologation to higher cyanohydrins”
From The protometabolic nature of prebiotic chemistry (2023) · cites this paper as [97]
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Citations
Cites
A Production of Amino Acids Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions
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Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions.
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Self-citationMeteorites and the Early Solar System II
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The antiquity of RNA-based evolution.
Joyce, G. F. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/418214a · Cited by 1,070
Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors in a cyanosulfidic protometabolism
Patel, B. H., Percivalle, C., Ritson, D. J., Duffy, C. D., & Sutherland, J. D. (2015) · Nature Chemistry · doi:10.1038/nchem.2202 · Cited by 949
Borate Minerals Stabilize Ribose
Ricardo, A., Carrigan, M. A., Olcott, A. N., & Benner, S. A. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1092464 · Cited by 646
Robertson, M. P., & Joyce, G. F. (2012) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a003608 · Cited by 556
The Origin of Life—Out of the Blue
Sutherland, J. D. (2016) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201506585 · Cited by 401
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Shiny metal catalysts at the origin of metabolism
Martin, W. F., Hoffmann, N. K., & Schlikker, M. L. (2026) · Trends in Microbiology · doi:10.1016/j.tim.2026.07.012 · Cited by 3
RETRACTED: Metal Catalysis Acting on Nitriles in Early Earth Hydrothermal Systems
Sturtz, M., & House, C. H. (2023) · Life · doi:10.3390/life13071524 · Cited by 1
RetractedAmino acids catalyze RNA formation under ambient alkaline conditionsPreprint
Braun, D., Rout, S. K., Wunnava, S., Powner, M. W., Šponer, J. E., & Mast, C. B. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4343389/v1 · Cited by 1
Self-citationPrebiotic synthesis of 3′-amino-TNA nucleotide triphosphatesPreprint
Whitaker, D. E., & Powner, M. W. (2021) · doi:10.33774/chemrxiv-2021-zs5qg
Self-citation(2019) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-812212-9.16001-4
Tracking an Ultrafast C-S Bond Breaking in the UV-induced Sulfur-substituted 2-aminoazolePreprint
Janicki, M. J., Kufner, C. L., Góra, R. W., & Sasselov, D. D. (2024) · ChemRxiv · doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-drxcv-v2
Ter‐Ovanessian, L. M. P., Ryan, K. L., Shaarda, J., Stubbs, R. T., Krishnamurthy, R., & Springsteen, G. (2025) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.202507248
Qi, P.-L., Huang, C.-X., & Li, Y.-J. (2025) · Tetrahedron Letters · doi:10.1016/j.tetlet.2025.155882
Fayolle, D. (2020) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/6e174fe2z79a7z4a7fzae6cz837cb04a065b
Phosphorylation of prebiotic precursors on the early Earth
Shvetsova, A. (2023) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/f29e48aezf058z4ca4za37czb7fc87d89620
W 1 /TiO 2− x Enabled Photoelectrochemical Tandem Upgrading of Glycerol to Nucleoside Precursors
Wang, L., Guo, X., Sun, W., Xu, Z., Gu, Y., Tian, Y., & Guo, S. (2026) · Angewandte Chemie · doi:10.1002/ange.6004948
W 1 /TiO 2− x Enabled Photoelectrochemical Tandem Upgrading of Glycerol to Nucleoside Precursors
Wang, L., Guo, X., Sun, W., Xu, Z., Gu, Y., Tian, Y., & Guo, S. (2026) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.6004948
Strands in a Web: Free Energies of Select Prebiotic Reactions with Sugars, Nitriles and Azoles
Kua, J., & Mateescu, A. N. (2026) · Life · doi:10.3390/life16091531
Approaching life in a test tube with prebiotic chemistry
Pianowski, Z. (2026) · Communications Chemistry · doi:10.1038/s42004-026-02257-3
Ribozymes That Benefit from Peptide Cofactors with Aromatic Modifications
Le, T., Patil, N., Leman, L. J., & Müller, U. F. (2026) · Life · doi:10.3390/life16111817
Metadata
- Authors
- Islam, S., Bučar, D.-K., & Powner, M. W.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Powner, Matthew W.
- Venue
- Nature Chemistry
- Published
- 2017-01-16
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 584-589
- ISSN
- 1755-4330 (ISSN-L)
- 1755-4349
- OpenAlex
- W2578576796
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 13
- FWCI
- 7.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- kclpure.kcl.ac.uk
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Leverhulme Trust
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K004980/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Physical Organic Chemistry and Reaction Kinetics
- Keywords
- prebiotic synthesis, proteinogenic amino acids, nucleotide synthesis, ribonucleotide synthesis, 2-aminothiazole, glycolaldehyde, glyceraldehyde, dihydroxyacetone, isomerization, sugar purification, amino acid selection, origin of life, origin of metabolism
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