The DOI matches its Crossref record; 60 of the 60 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Why Nature Chose Phosphates
Abstract
Phosphate esters and anhydrides dominate the living world but are seldom used as intermediates by organic chemists. Phosphoric acid is specially adapted for its role in nucleic acids because it can link two nucleotides and still ionize; the resulting negative charge serves both to stabilize the diesters against hydrolysis and to retain the molecules within a lipid membrane. A similar explanation for stability and retention also holds for phosphates that are intermediary metabolites and for phosphates that serve as energy sources. Phosphates with multiple negative charges can react by way of the monomeric metaphosphate ion PO 3 - as an intermediate. No other residue appears to fulfill the multiple roles of phosphate in biochemistry. Stable, negatively charged phosphates react under catalysis by enzymes; organic chemists, who can only rarely use enzymatic catalysis for their reactions, need more highly reactive intermediates than phosphates.
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“Magnesium which is frequently closely associated with phosphates and phosphate esters is an important metal in RNA metallobiochemistry (Gonzalez and Tinoco 2001) and an important player in the origins of life (Petrov et al. 2011;Westheimer 1987).”
From The Emergence of Life (2019) · cites this paper as Westheimer 1987
Citations
Cites
The RNA moiety of ribonuclease P is the catalytic subunit of the enzyme
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Enzyme-Catalyzed Phosphoryl Transfer Reactions
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Pseudo-rotation in the hydrolysis of phosphate esters
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Self-citationEffective Molarities for Intramolecular Reactions
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The Intervening Sequence RNA of Tetrahymena Is an Enzyme
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Self-citation
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Clapham, D. E. (2007) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.11.028 · Cited by 4,175
P HOSPHORUS IN THE E NVIRONMENT : Natural Flows and Human Interferences
Smil, V. (2000) · Annual Review of Energy and the Environment · doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.25.1.53 · Cited by 1,228
Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago
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Dobson, C. M. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03192 · Cited by 1,033
Reich, H. J., & Hondal, R. J. (2016) · ACS Chemical Biology · doi:10.1021/acschembio.6b00031 · Cited by 923
Metadata
- Authors
- Westheimer, F. H.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Westheimer, F. H.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1987-03-06
- Volume
- 235
- Issue
- 4793
- Pages
- 1173-1178
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2064761203
- Semantic Scholar
- 5ca074c6259fad7d448fb8587c394e507dd3ee19
- Cited by
- 1,711
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 68 · 2025: 75 · 2024: 96 · 2023: 89 · 2022: 90 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 71 · 2018: 68 · 2017: 71 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 84 · 2014: 69 · 2013: 62 · 2012: 65
- FWCI
- 14.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Physical Organic Chemistry and Reaction Kinetics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Organophosphorus compounds synthesis
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Keywords
- phosphate, phosphoric acid, nucleic acids, energy storage, enzyme catalysis
- MeSH terms
- Amides, Animals, Arsenates, Chemistry, Citrates, Electrochemistry, Humans, Hydrolysis, Ions, Nucleic Acids, Phosphates, RNA, Silicic Acid, Citric Acid, Chemical Phenomena
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