Gao X, Liu Y, Xu P X, Cai Y M, Zhao Y F
The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Amino Acids. 2008 Jan;34(1):47-53. doi: 10.1007/s00726-007-0599-8. Epub 2007 Nov 2.
The condensation reactions of sodium trimetaphosphate with single amino acids, namely glycine, L-alanine, beta-alanine and gamma-aminobutyric acid or pairs of these amino acids were reinvestigated by electrospray ion-trap mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography. It was found when mixtures were treated by sodium trimetaphosphate only in the presence of alpha-amino acid dipeptides were formed. Without addition of alpha-amino acids, the beta-amino acid or gamma-aminobutyric acid could not form peptide either by themselves or with their mixtures under the same conditions. From the data it is concluded that phosphate might select alpha-amino acids to produce the peptides being important precursors for the origin of life.
用电喷雾离子阱质谱和高效液相色谱法对三聚磷酸钠与单个氨基酸（即甘氨酸、L-丙氨酸、β-丙氨酸和γ-氨基丁酸）或这些氨基酸对的缩合反应进行了重新研究。结果发现，当仅在α-氨基酸存在的情况下用三聚磷酸钠处理混合物时，会形成二肽。在不添加α-氨基酸的情况下，β-氨基酸或γ-氨基丁酸在相同条件下自身或与它们的混合物都不能形成肽。根据这些数据可以得出结论，磷酸盐可能会选择α-氨基酸来产生肽，而肽是生命起源的重要前体。
