（科研迷）天体生物学完整课程 基础益生元化学.pdf

3.1 Key Molecules of Life 55 3 Basic Prebiotic Chemistry Herv Cottin This chapter is devoted to the study of prebiotic chemistry. It focuses on the abiotic synthesis of key prebiotic compounds – amino acids, purine and pyrimidine bases, and sugars – from simple molecules, such as methane (CH4), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and formaldehyde (H2CO), thereby filling the gap between chemistry and biology. In the first section living systems are dismantled into more elemental fragments: organic molecules. To address the origin of life, the next question is how those fragments can be synthesized in an abiotic manner. After a short historical review, different tracks of prebiotic chemical evolution are ex- plored: an endogenous production of the molecules of life within early Earth’s atmosphere or in the depths of primitive oceans, or an exogenous source of prebiotic molecules through space delivery via meteorites and comets. The last section describes chemical path- ways of the synthesis of the building blocks of life. 3.1 Key Molecules of Life Life as we know it is based on a complex chemistry involving highly sophisticated biological molecules such as proteins, ribonucleic acids (RNA), or deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA). Such elaborated structures result from a complex chemical evolution, starting with the simplest organic compounds. At some point, at an as yet undefined stage of complexity and organization of matter, an important step is made and chemistry turns into biology. Complete Course in Astrobiology. Edited by Gerda Horneck and Petra Rettberg Copyright 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN: 978-3-527-40660-9 56 3 Basic Prebiotic Chemistry 3.1.1 Dismantling the R