The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jan 12;107(2):541-4. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0912769107. Epub 2009 Dec 17.
The discovery of ribozymes led to the proposal of an RNA world, where a single type of molecule was supposedly capable of self-replication and chemical catalysis. We show here that both autocatalysis and organocatalysis can be engineered into a synthetic structure. The compound is shown to selectively accelerate its own formation and catalyze either hydrogenation or nucleophilic addition to alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes. The observed reactivity indicates that the components of a purported pre-RNA world conceivably include smaller organic molecules.
核酶的发现促使人们提出了“RNA 世界”假说，即单一类型的分子应该具有自我复制和化学催化的能力。在这里，我们展示了可以将自动催化和有机催化两种催化方式设计到一个合成结构中。该化合物被证明能够选择性地加速自身的形成，并催化α，β-不饱和醛的加氢或亲核加成反应。所观察到的反应活性表明，所谓的原始 RNA 世界的组成部分可能包括更小的有机分子。
