Nucleotide-mediated catalytic peptide synthesis from aminonitriles
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Aminonitriles are accessible from simple feedstock compounds and their hydrolysis offers an abiotic route to life’s amino acids on the early earth. However, controlled aqueous polymerisation of amino acids into peptides remains challenging. Here we show that peptides can be directly generated and elongated by aminonitriles when the latter are coupled to nucleotides as a phosphoramidate. Upon thiol catalysis and pH shifts, a series of selective reactivities drives iterative peptide bond formation in water. The high energy nitrile bond of aminonitriles circumvents amino acids’ need for concurrent activation chemistry in peptide elongation. Coupling the building blocks of life’s central biopolymers in this manner provides a pathway for early integration of peptides into biology.
Source: ChemRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7215037523