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Lavado N, García de la Concepción J, Gallego M, Babiano R, Cintas P. From prebiotic chemistry to supramolecular oligomers: urea-glyoxal reactions. Org Biomol Chem 2019; 17:5826-5838. [PMID: 31147669 DOI: 10.1039/c9ob01120j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
A fundamental question in origin-of-life studies and astrochemistry concerns the actual processes that initiate the formation of reactive monomers and their oligomerization. Answers lie partly in the accurate description of reaction mechanisms compatible with environments plausible on early Earth as well as cosmological scenarios in planetary factories. Here we show in detail that reactions of urea-as archetypal prebiotic substance-and reactive carbonyls-exemplified by glyoxal-lead to a vast repertoire of oligomers, in which different five- and six-membered non-aromatic heterocycles self-assemble and insert into chains or dendritic-like structures with masses up to 1000 Da. Such regular patterns have been interpreted by experimental and computational methods. A salient conclusion is that such processes most likely occur through SN-type mechanisms on hydrated or protonated species. Remarkably, such supramolecular oligomeric mixtures can be easily isolated from organic solvents, thus opening the door to the generation of novel urea-containing polymers with potential applications in materials chemistry and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nieves Lavado
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, E-06006 Badajoz, Spain.
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2
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Hong S, Ratpukdi T, Sivaguru J, Khan E. Photolysis of glutaraldehyde in brine: A showcase study for removal of a common biocide in oil and gas produced water. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2018; 353:254-260. [PMID: 29677527 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.03.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Revised: 03/26/2018] [Accepted: 03/27/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Glutaraldehyde (GA) has been used extensively as a biocide in hydraulic fracturing fluid leading to its presence in oil and gas produced water. In this study, photolysis was used to degrade GA from brine solutions simulating produced water. Photolysis of GA was performed under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. GA can be photolyzed by UV at all studied conditions with the efficiency ranging from 52 to 85% within one hour irradiation. Photolysis of GA followed pseudo-first order kinetics. A photolysis rate constant of GA at 0.1 mM in 200 g/L of salt at pH 7 was 0.0269 min-1 with a quantum yield of 0.0549 under 224 W illumination. The degradation rate of GA increased with increasing incident light intensity and decreasing pH. Increasing initial GA concentration resulted in decreasing degradation rate of GA. The degradation of GA was affected by salt concentration. At lower salt concentrations, notable retardation of GA photodegradation rate was observed while at higher salt concentrations GA photodegradation was improved compared to those without salt. OH was more dominant in sample without salt than sample with salt suggesting different photolytic mechanisms, indirect and direct photolysis, respectively. Oligomers were identified as the main photoproducts of GA photolysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soklida Hong
- Environmental and Conservation Sciences Program, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108, USA; International Postgraduate Programs in Environmental Management, Graduate School Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
| | - Thunyalux Ratpukdi
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
| | - Jayaraman Sivaguru
- Center for Photochemical Sciences and Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, USA.
| | - Eakalak Khan
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA.
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Lavado N, Escamilla JC, Ávalos M, Babiano R, Cintas P, Jiménez JL, Palacios JC. Prebiotic-Like Condensations of Cyanamide and Glyoxal: Revisiting Intractable Biotars. Chemistry 2016; 22:13632-42. [PMID: 27455123 DOI: 10.1002/chem.201601999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
We report a detailed investigation into the nature of products that are generated by the reactions of cyanamide and glyoxal, two small molecules of astrochemical and prebiotic significance, under different experimental conditions. The experimental data suggest that the formation of oligomeric structures is related in part to the formation of insoluble tholins in the presence of oxygen-containing molecules. Although oligomerization proceeds well in water, product isolation turned out to be impractical. Instead, solid precipitates were obtained easily in acetone. Crude mixtures have been thoroughly scrutinized by spectroscopic methods, in particular NMR and mass spectroscopy (ESI mode), which are all consistent with the generation of a few functional groups that are embedded into regular chains of five- and six-membered rings, thereby pointing to a supramolecular organization. Three different models of cross-condensation and chain growth are suggested. These synthetic explorations provide further insights into the formation of complex organic matter in interstellar scenarios and extraterrestrial bodies that might have played a pivotal role in chemical evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nieves Lavado
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain.
| | - Juan Carlos Escamilla
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Martín Ávalos
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Reyes Babiano
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain.
| | - Pedro Cintas
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - José Luis Jiménez
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Juan Carlos Palacios
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, IACYS-Unidad de Química Verde y Desarrollo Sostenible, 06006, Badajoz, Spain
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Lavado N, Ávalos M, Babiano R, Cintas P, Light ME, Jiménez JL, Palacios JC. On the Plausibility of Pseudosugar Formation in Cometary Ices and Oxygen-rich Tholins. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2016; 46:31-49. [PMID: 26428515 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-015-9456-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
We revisit herein the formation and structure of dihydroxy dioxanes, which can be obtained from prebiotically available precursors and can be regarded as primeval sugar surrogates. Previous studies dealing with the heterogeneous composition of interstellar bodies point to the existence of significant amounts of small polyalcohols along with oxygen-containing oligomers. Even though such derivatives did not give rise to nucleosides and oligonucleotides, nor they were incorporated into subsequent metabolic routes, molecular chimeras based on sugar-like species could be opportunistic scaffolds in pre-evolutionary scenarios. We could figure out that pseudosugars, assembled by hemiacetalic bonds from available precursors in both interstellar and terrestrial scenarios, were presumably more abundant than thought. Moreover, these species share some key features with naturally-occurring sugar rings, such as anomeric preferences, coordinating ability, and the prevalent occurrence of racemic compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nieves Lavado
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, Avenida de Elvas s/n, E-06006, Badajoz, Spain.
| | - Martín Ávalos
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, Avenida de Elvas s/n, E-06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Reyes Babiano
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, Avenida de Elvas s/n, E-06006, Badajoz, Spain.
| | - Pedro Cintas
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, Avenida de Elvas s/n, E-06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Mark E Light
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - José Luis Jiménez
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, Avenida de Elvas s/n, E-06006, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Juan C Palacios
- Departamento de Química Orgánica e Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias-UEX, Avenida de Elvas s/n, E-06006, Badajoz, Spain
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Telegina TA, Kolesnikov MP, Vechtomova YL, Buglak AA, Kritsky MS. Abiotic photophosphorylation model based on abiogenic flavin and pteridine pigments. J Mol Evol 2013; 76:332-42. [PMID: 23689512 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-013-9562-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2013] [Accepted: 04/26/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
A model for abiotic photophosphorylation of adenosine diphosphate by orthophosphate with the formation of adenosine triphosphate was studied. The model was based on the photochemical activity of the abiogenic conjugates of pigments with the polymeric material formed after thermolysis of amino acid mixtures. The pigments formed showed different fluorescence parameters depending on the composition of the mixture of amino acid precursors. Thermolysis of the mixture of glutamic acid, glycine, and lysine (8:3:1) resulted in a predominant formation of a pigment fraction which had the fluorescence maximum at 525 nm and the excitation band maxima at 260, 375, and 450 nm and was identified as flavin. When glycine in the initial mixture was replaced with alanine, a product formed whose fluorescence parameters were typical to pteridines (excitation maximum at 350 nm, emission maximum at 440 nm). When irradiated with the quasi-monochromatic light (over the range 325-525 nm), microspheres in which flavin pigments were prevailing showed a maximum photophosphorylating activity at 375 and 450 nm, and pteridine-containing chromoproteinoid microspheres were most active at 350 nm. The positions and the relative height of maxima in the action spectra correlate with those in the excitation spectra of the pigments, which point to the involvement of abiogenic flavins and pteridines in photophosphorylation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taisiya A Telegina
- A. N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 33-2, Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow, 119071, Russia.
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On the free energy that drove primordial anabolism. Int J Mol Sci 2009; 10:1853-1871. [PMID: 19468343 PMCID: PMC2680651 DOI: 10.3390/ijms10041853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2009] [Revised: 04/16/2009] [Accepted: 04/20/2009] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
A key problem in understanding the origin of life is to explain the mechanism(s) that led to the spontaneous assembly of molecular building blocks that ultimately resulted in the appearance of macromolecular structures as they are known in modern biochemistry today. An indispensable thermodynamic prerequisite for such a primordial anabolism is the mechanistic coupling to processes that supplied the free energy required. Here I review different sources of free energy and discuss the potential of each form having been involved in the very first anabolic reactions that were fundamental to increase molecular complexity and thus were essential for life.
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Abstract
The prebiotic formation of histidine (His) has been accomplished experimentally by the reaction of erythrose with formamidine followed by a Strecker synthesis. In the first step of this reaction sequence, the formation of imidazole-4-acetaldehyde took place by the condensation of erythrose and formamidine, two compounds that are known to be formed under prebiotic conditions. In a second step, the imidazole-4-acetaldehyde was converted to His, without isolation of the reaction products by adding HCN and ammonia to the reaction mixture. LC, HPLC, thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and tandem mass spectrometry were used to identify the product, which was obtained in a yield of 3.5% based on the ratio of His/erythrose. This is a new chemical synthesis of one of the basic amino acids which had not been synthesized prebiotically until now.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Shen
- Department of Biophysical and Biochemical Sciences, University of Houston, Texas 77204-5500, USA
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Halmann M, Bloch S. Glyoxal and malonaldehyde formation by ultraviolet irradiation of aqueous formaldehyde. Biosystems 1979; 11:227-32. [PMID: 543930 DOI: 10.1016/0303-2647(79)90023-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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