Abstract
Heating a dilute solution of NH3 and glycoaldehyde gives a large family of pyridines substituted with the same functional groups as occur in the forms of vitamin B6. Thus, vitamin B6-like molecules could have been present on the early Earth and could have been available for catalysis of primitive transamination reactions. Ethanolamine and N-methylethanolamine are also formed as major products. These are choline-like molecules, the latter of which is apparently formed by a prebiotic methylation process.
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Austin, S.M., Waddell, T.G. Prebiotic Synthesis of Vitamin B6-type Compounds. Orig Life Evol Biosph 29, 287–296 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006532518221
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006532518221