A Unified Mechanism for Abiotic Adenine and Purine Synthesis in Formamide

Form(am)idable beginning: Mechanistic pathways from formamide to purine and adenine have been proposed (see scheme, purine (R=H, X=H), adenine (R=CN, X=NH2, R′=CONH2). Parallels between these plausible prebiotic syntheses and purine-ring biosynthesis may allude to the origins of the metabolic route. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.