Formation of amino acids from aliphatic nitriles and aliphatic amines by contact glow discharge electrolysis.

Contact glow discharge electrolyses (CGDE) were carried out relative to the prebiotic formation of amino acids by amination of aliphatic nitrile in aqueous ammoniacal solution, and by cyanization of aliphatic amine by sodium cyanide. The CGDE of propionitrile by amination followed by hydrolysis resulted in the formation of glycine, alanine and beta-alanine. The reaction of ethylamine by cyanization, gave glycine, alanine, beta-alanine, aspartic acid, and serine. In these reactions, a relatively high ratio of glycine was observed. This could be explained by the cleavage of the alpha,beta-carbon bond, which was broken easily, due to the strong electron-attracting property of the nitrile group of propionitrile and the resulting alpha-aminopropionitrile.