Mechanistic insight into the prebiotic syntheses of pyrimidine ribonucleotide and pyrimidine deoxynucleotide precursors

The synthesis of nucleotides, bypassing free ribose and nuclebase, has recently attracted great attention. It has been reported that pyrimidine nucleotide precursor can be generated from 2-aminooxazole and glyceraldehyde. However, attempt to generate deoxynucleotide from 2-aminothiazole and glyceraldehyde is failed experimentally. Density functional theory has been utilized to elucidate the similarities and distinctions of the two systems. From the energy profiles and optimized structures, conclusions are drawn about mechanisms and experimental phenomena are explained.99