Skip to main content

Thoughts and Experiments on a Chemical Etiology of Nucleic Acid Structure

  • Chapter
Pioneering Ideas for the Physical and Chemical Sciences

Abstract

Organic chemists enamoured with the science and art of chemical syntheses can’t help being fascinated again and again by the power of the language of organic chemistry. It is a language which makes it possible to model virtually the entire world of organic molecules with a handful of very simple rules. More and more, it also becomes the biologists’ language, whenever their research problems lead them down to the molecular level of the chemist. At this symposium, we honour one of the creators of this language, Josef Loschmidt, and we do so by reflecting on the history of the ideas that had led to it more than a century ago, and by illustrating the paramount role this graphic language of organic chemistry plays in our time.

The erratum of this chapter is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0268-9_36

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. A. Eschenmoser. Kon-Tiki-Experimente zur Frage nach dem Ursprung von Biomolekülen, in: W. Gerok et al. (Ed.). ‘Materie und Prozesse vom Elementaren zum Komplexen’. Verh.Ges.Dtsch.Naturforsch.Ärzte, 116. Versammlung, Berlin 1990, Wissensch.Verlagsges., Stuttgart 1991, p. 135.

    Google Scholar 

  2. A. Eschenmoser. Warum Pentose-und nicht Hexose-Nucleinsäuren? Nachr.Chem.Tech.Lab. 39, 795 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. A. Eschenmoser, M. Dobler. Warum Pentose-und nicht Hexose-Nucleinsäuren? Teil I. Einleitung und Problemstellung. Konformationsanalyse für Oligonucleotid-Ketten aus 2′,3′-Dideoxyglucopyranosyl-Bausteinen (‘Homo-DNS’) sowie Betrachtungen zur Konformation von A-und B-DNS. Helv.Chim.Acta 75, 218 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. M. Böhringer, H.-J. Roth, J. Hunziker, M. Göbel, R. Krishnan, A. Giger, B. Schweizer, J. Schreiber, C. Leumann, A. Eschenmoser. Warum Pentose-und nicht Hexose-Nucleinsäuren? Teil II. Oligonucleotide aus 2′,3′-Dideoxy-β-D-glucopyranosyl-Bausteinen (‘Homo-DNS’): Herstellung. Helv.Chim.Acta 75, 1416 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. J. Hunziker, H.-J. Roth, M. Böhringer, A. Giger, U. Diederichsen, M. Göbel, R. Krishnan, B. Jaun, C. Leumann, A. Eschenmoser. Warum Pentose-und nicht Hexose-Nucleinsäuren? Teil III. Oligo(2’,3’-dideoxy-β-D-glucopyranosyl)nucleotide (‘Homo-DNS’): Paarungseigenschaften. Helv.Chim.Acta 76, 259 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. G. Otting, M. Billeter, K. Wüthrich, H.-J. Roth, C. Leumann, A. Eschenmoser. Warum Pentose-und nicht Hexose-Nucleinsäuren? Teil IV. ‘Homo-DNS’: 1H-13C-31P-und 15N-NMR-spektroskopische Untersuchung von ddGlc(A-A-A-A-A-T-T-T-T-T) in wässriger Lösung. Helv.Chim.Acta 76, 2701 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. S. Pitsch, S. Wendeborn, B. Jaun, A. Eschenmoser. Why Pentose-and Not Hexose-Nucleic Acids? Part VII. Pyranosyl-RNA (‘p-RNA’). Helv.Chim.Acta 76, 2161 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. A. Eschenmoser. Toward a Chemical Etiology of the Natural Nucleic Acids’ Structure. Proc. R. A. Welch Foundation 37th Conference on Chemical Research ‘40 Years of the DNA Double Helix’. Houston, Texas, 1993, p. 201.

    Google Scholar 

  9. S. Pitsch, R. Krishnamurthy, M. Bolli, S. Wendeborn, A. Holzner, M. Minton, C. Lesueur, I. Schlönvogt, B. Jaun, A. Eschenmoser. Pyranosyl-RNA (‘p-RNA’): Base-Pairing Selectivity and Potential to Replicate. Helv.Chim.Acta 78, 1621 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. R. Krishnamurthy, S. Pitsch, M. Minton, C. Miculka, N. Windhab, A. Eschenmoser. Pyranosyl-RNA: Base Pairing between Homochiral Oligonucleotide Strands of Opposite Sense of Chirality. Angew.Chem.Int. Ed.Engl. 35, 1537 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. I. Schlönvogt, S. Pitsch, C. Lesueur, A. Eschenmoser, B. Jaun, R.M. Wolf. Pyranosyl-RNA (‘p-RNA’): NMR and Molecular-Dynamics Study of the Duplex Formed by Self-pairing of Ribopyranosyl-(C-G-A-A-T-T-C-G). Helv.Chim.Acta 79, 2316 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. A. Eschenmoser, M.V. Kisakürek. Chemistry and the Origin of Life. Helv.Chim.Acta 79, 1249 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Eschenmoser, A. (1997). Thoughts and Experiments on a Chemical Etiology of Nucleic Acid Structure. In: Fleischhacker, W., Schönfeld, T. (eds) Pioneering Ideas for the Physical and Chemical Sciences. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0268-9_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0268-9_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0270-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0268-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics